Outside of the Lines
by mau5
Summary: Due to financial problems Naomi Campbell is forced to take on a lodger.
1. Chapter 1

Since Naomi Campbell's mother had moved out, she'd noticed countless things about the house she lived in, the extra panel of skirting board in the matchbox sized kitchen, the damp growing its way up the wall of the bathroom, the crooked doorstep which frequently sought to throw people off of it. The attic. She supposed that it was because the little yellow house she'd grown up in was now solely hers.

Her slender fingers drew to the walls of the attic as if drawn to its imperfections, the dips, the dents, the pieces of small jagged paper browning on them. She asked herself why she hadn't walked these floorboards before, why she hadn't smelt the mustiness of this hidden room, which would flourish with a bit of paint and Pledge, before. Before long, her mind began to position cabinets, lamps, clocks and even beds around the spacious floors, a large smile cultivating on her face as the idea for where she could stick the lady, who would be coming to stay with her soon, came into existence.

The very next day, Naomi found herself on the phone to builders, cleaners and decorators. The prices had been ludicrous, especially to the ears of one whose financial state lay in such turmoil. So the blonde had gone out, brought a few buckets of beige paint, some overalls and a few brushes. Sure, the attic wouldn't be finished by the time the lodger arrived, but the sooner the better as far as Naomi was concerned. Just knowing that she could eventually start to move around the house she'd grown up in more freely, once the lodger was living up in the attic, was piece of mind enough. She'd never seen herself living with a complete stranger, certainly not, because Naomi could hardly even stand living with her own mother, not that her mother was ever a nescience…besides letting the whole of Bristol move in with them in Naomi's teenage years, _and_ perpetually spending the mortgage money on slot machines…_and_ eventually posting the internet ad for a lodger behind Naomi's back, only to break it to her icey-eyed daughter that she was going to be moving out to go and live with her boyfriend, Kieran, anyway.

"Sweetheart, we need the money. The house goes under without it." She had told her fist-scrunched daughter, so casual as the breeze.

Naomi's eyes had blown wide at that, hands flying in expletives. "Fuck mum, there are other ways we could've made the money. But no, you had to invite a complete stranger into our home – and to make matters even shittier, you're now fucking off to live with Kieran and leaving me to face the brunt of this axe murder, who's gonna be kipping in my old room."

Gina had frowned and then smiled. "Darling, I interviewed heaps of people whilst you were at work. I made sure I picked a girl. A harmless little redhead."

"Yes, whilst I was at work, you sneaky old cow! You should've told me you were moving someone in. I cannot believe you wouldn't see that as something you'd have to inform me of. Now I'm going to have to suffer the company of someone I do not know, gonna have them walking in and out of rooms whilst I'm doing my work, have them getting under my feet. Thanks mum. Thanks a fucking bunch."

Gina's hand had flicked, as to trivialize her daughter's freaking out. "Oh don't be so anti-social Naomi. You had me as a mother; you should be used to having to live with strangers by now."

Naomi had left the room at that point, hearing her mother assuring her that it'd all turn out fine before leaving.

No, Gina wasn't a nuisance, as far as Naomi would put it. She was irresponsible. Sometimes the 26 year old blonde would question how such an irresponsible woman such as Gina could have ever been entrusted with a baby. She would've asked God what he was playing at if she actually believed there was one.

There couldn't be, not when she had just had her car stolen and been demoted all in one fell swoop of unfortunate events. So now a stranger was coming to live with her tomorrow, coming to share the same space as her, to contaminate it. After all, that was what people did wasn't it? Contaminate things.

But Naomi had a smile on her face as she opened the door to the small, red haired girl standing on the doorstep with two bags at her feet, because the attic was nearly complete, and she had every intention of making sure that she hardly ever brushed shoulders with the stranger now offering a hand out to her.

"Hi. I'm Emily." The fiery haired girl, who couldn't have been anymore than…12 in Naomi's estimation, smiled bright. "The lady who showed me around before, told me she had a daughter. Nice to meet you." She continued once Naomi slipped her hand into the one waiting.

"I'm Naomi. And sorry, the lady who showed you around this place isn't with us anymore. So you're just stuck with me." The blonde sighed.

Emily frowned in sympathy, not quite sure where and how to put the limbs of her body all of a sudden. "Oh…Erm, I'm sorry for your loss Naomi."

Naomi's body began to dance with small laughter, and Emily took notice of how the blonde hair growing from Naomi's head jingled like the bells at Christmas.

"Oh no. She's not dead." Naomi waved her hand, still chuckling, and out of the side of her mouth she muttered."Unfortunately."

Emily laughed. "Surely she's not that bad. She was an extremely nice, funny woman when I came to view this place. Don't be such a meanie."

As the short girl nudged her with playful admonishment and stepped past her into the house, Naomi stood halt, taking a deep breath. This was it, she was really about to commence to living with a stranger. In that exact moment she told herself she'd be up in that attic all night if she had to. Anything to speed up the process of sticking Emily up there sooner.

Emily's eyes slowly rose from the clothes in her bags to the blonde standing tower over her. A quiet, awkward moment passed and when the locking of blue to brown birthed unbearable tension, she asked. "Erm…can I…help you with something Naomi?"

"Yes," The blonde replied, chest puffing with certainty. She uncrossed her arms and dropped her eyes to the bags resting just next to Emily on the bed. "I'd like you to empty out all of your belongings on the bed please, and then empty your pockets."

"…Erm…I don't know what your mother told you, but I don't get kinky until at least the second date." Emily quipped, a grin accompanying it.

Naomi frowned, not knowing how to take the redheaded stranger's words, but just knowing that her request was being declined. "Look Emily, you don't know me and I don't know you, but one thing I do know is that you are not going to be strangling me in the middle of the night, or shooting me whilst I'm in the back garden pulling weeds, or ending my life in the various other ways that the weapons, which you may or may not have in those two bags, are capable of."

Emily raised her perfectly crafted brows, the giggles swirling in her chest lessening when she began to realize that this woman was actually serious. She didn't give it too much thought, just smirked and shrugged to herself as she rose to her feet and began emptying the two bags out all over the bed. They both gazed the colourful mess then, an mp3 with a web of earphones sticking out of it, photos, letters, the crescendoing colour of clothes.

Emily looked at Naomi like the blonde was the mental patient everybody stayed clear of, and raised some fingers to fiddle with an ear. "Would you now like to check behind my ears for concealed blades?"

If there was one thing Naomi didn't agree with, it was people laughing…especially when she wasn't and especially when it was directed at her.

This Emily was already starting to irritate her.

She tilted her head on its side to consider Emily, in mock of the _genius_ of the redhead's suggestion. "Actually that's a great idea. Spread your arms and stand up straight so I can quickly frisk you." To her surprise, the other girl's entire face lit bright with a grin and she was stood up straight with her arms out to her sides in less than a second of being dished the sarcasm.

"Frisk away." Emily said, and suddenly Naomi's ears lost their virginity to the silky, deep husk of the redhead's voice.

She stood there, face to face with brown eyes, not knowing what to do about being called on her bluff, and promptly flinched out of Emily's grasp when she was suddenly looking at her long fingers resting against the grey of this stranger's hoody, courtesy of the stranger having placed them there.

"Well if you've changed your mind." Emily shrugged, turning back round to begin sorting the stuff splayed out on the bed.

"You still haven't emptied your pockets." The blonde quickly recovered, causing Emily to smirk at the fact that the seemingly prim woman standing behind her _still_ had some feisty in her.

"I'm not emptying my pockets, so what are you going to do?" Asked Emily, hair momentarily lifting like a skirt mid-twirl, as she quickly turned back around.

Naomi didn't know how to respond to that, just didn't have the answer in her and if there was one thing that Naomi liked it was answers. That way there were no problems. Unfortunately for her, her mothers _answer_ to their money problem was just another fucking problem. A, _harmless,_ little redheaded problem, or so it seemed.

Emily wasn't looking at her with belligerence or confrontation, but with just a simple interest as to what was going to happen if she did not do as Naomi said and empty out her pockets.

"You have a little bit of the control freak in you, don't you?" Asked Emily, hitting Naomi out of the deep blue with it, but once again she was quick to regain her wits.

"And you have a bit of the rebel in you, don't you? Red hair?" She raised her eyebrows to suggest how ridiculous the idea of luminous scarlet hair was.

"I like to stand out – and calm, Naomi. Calm. I wasn't attacking you with what I said. Was merely an observation."

Naomi shifted out of uncomfortableness and her arms reformed across her chest. "Yeah well, if you need to know anything, give me a shout. I'll be in the room opposite…_with_ my door open so I can watch to see if you're doing anything less than kosher. Ok?"

Emily smiled, like she wouldn't expect anything less from the frowning blonde, and sarcastically quipped. "Where did _all_ the trust between us go?"

Naomi muttered something indicative of complaint and skulked off out of the room, leaving the redhead to finish unpacking and explore the rest of the house.

**Review and tell me what you think please?**


	2. Chapter 2

**Thank you guys for all of your reviews and enthusiasm. Wasn't expecting such a big response for the first chapter. I love you! This story wasn't meant to be funny, but a lot of you seem to think it is so i guess that's a bonus. This chapter is shorter than the first one guys so i hope that's ok. An anonymous reviewer stated that reading this can be a little bif difficult because it's all centred. Would you guys prefer if it was all aligned from left to right? I actually quite like how it looks centred, but i'm not the one reading it, so let me know.**

The shuffling in the distance called Naomi's attention, her sight no longer resting on the newspaper, which she was now expectantly looking over the top of. She waited a few seconds with no reveal, using the time to apologize for whatever she'd done in her past life to deserve the degrees of discomfort which she was experiencing in that moment. Because there was somebody else in her house. Someone she didn't know from Adam…_or_ Eve for that matter.

Reaching across at the remote control sitting on the sofa just next to her curled up legs, the blonde jabbed the mute button in the direction of the box blaring flashing pictures about the war on Afghan at her, as though she was going to need all of her wits about her for the interaction she knew was about to come.

Inevitably, the shuffling morphed into the fuller sound of footsteps, growing more and more prominent as the other person now living with Naomi finally emerged, red locks darkened with still drying water.

Emily sighed and smiled. "That was a nice shower."

"Hmm." Naomi nodded, not bothering to grant the woman standing in front of her enough respect to look at her. Hopefully this Emily would get the message and disappear back upstairs, and maybe even with a bit of luck she'd stay there until the attic was finished.

The redhead pivoted very subtly on her heels, abandoning to continue on through to the kitchen so that she could throw her self down on the sofa next to Naomi. "What you reading then? 50 tell tell signs that your lodger is a serial killer? Is blood coloured hair one of them?"

If Naomi had thrown Emily her attention she would've seen her jesting smile, but instead the blonde had shrugged one of her shoulders and shuffled a little away from the stranger.

"You know I only just realized whilst I was upstairs in the shower that your name is Naomi Campbell." Emily pointed to the ceiling, her chuckle friendly. "I suppose it's cooler than Emily Fitch." Emily mused to herself, not that she hadn't already been speaking to herself, since she was getting absolutely no response from the person repeatedly sighing next to her. She'd probably get more conversation from the leg of the coffee table. It was amusing for the redhead to see someone so guarded, not in a point and jeer sort of way, but just in the way that it was intriguing. To rectify the gap that the blonde had just moments ago created between them, Emily shuffled over to Naomi, gently closing her in against the inside arm of the chair with a sly smile.

"So, erm, Naomi, what do you do?"

Emily obviously wasn't giving up, and Naomi felt she could do with bashing on her current work situation to someone. "Was governor of L wing in Temshall Prison for two years before the number one gave my position to his bit on the side, and now I'm just the deputy officer."

"Hence the strip search and air-tight security when I arrived yesterday. Gotta tell you though, your security sucks. I managed to smuggle in some green." Quipped Emily, quickly becoming aware of the bad taste that her joke had left in the blonde's mouth. She smirked at the volumes of aggravation dripping from Naomi, proud of herself for recognizing that she herself was once very much that easy to work up. Proud because she wasn't that person anymore. "Calm Naomi. That was just me joking." She placated after a long moment.

"What do you do then, tattoo your friend's arms in the basement of their council flats? Oh wait, council flats don't have basements do they?"

Emily smiled, like she was oblivious to the ill-will of Naomi's tone. "I just got here yesterday Naomi. I don't have many friends yet. I actually moved here because there was somewhere special that I wanted to revisit. It's just sort of like a retreat that I help out at. Most of the friends from when I was here last time have moved on."

Just as the redhead suspected, the blonde didn't ask for any elaboration. Dead blue orbs stayed in the black and white print of the paper. "Well this has been _riveting_ Naomi, but I must go and make myself a hot drink. Want one?"

"No. I'm fine." Naomi affirmed, feeling the sofa move with Emily leaving it. "And don't break any of my mugs, especially any of the ones with the pigs on them, or there will be _hell _to pay." She called.

"Oh, well, those were the ones I'd planned to throw up the wall first." The blonde heard come out of the kitchen and she scowled in its direction.

The silence thereafter was nice, meant that Naomi didn't have to answer any more questions she had absolutely no interest in. It meant that Naomi could pretend that she was living alone.

Not long now until this bloody attic is ready, she told herself later on in the night as she swept across its floorboards with hearty gestures of her broom.

**Review and tell me what you think Please?**


	3. Chapter 3

**Thank you for the feedback everybody. Still a little baffled as to why you guys think this is funny lol. I tagged it with the criteria of romance/spiritual. Loving that you guys are so into this already though. I can only apologize Kickstarts for embarassing you in public *Mau5 doesn't really mean the apology. mau5 is just apologizing because it seems like the apt thing to do* lmao :P **

**A bit of a longer chapter this time :)**

The insensitive volume of the TV, the constant soft thudding of freshly maroon painted toes against the footstool, the sporadic but ever droning coo of the dog lazing on the sofas as Emily lovingly ran her fingers through his fur.

Naomi couldn't take it anymore, the intrusion was just too much, and like a bell signaling round one, Naomi allowed her pen to fall from her fingers and listened to it rattle against the varnished wood of the table. She sighed. "Look, this isn't going to work Emily."

Emily glanced over at the blonde and immediately noted the stress plaguing her crystalline blue eyes. She stopped her hand from finishing its gentle journey along the softly rising and falling back of her dog. "What's not going to work?"

"You living here."

"Oh?"

"You leave your stuff everywhere." Naomi grasped at the fallen pen and quickly pointed out a hotspot of messily flung clothing. "You're inconsiderate," She further complained, throwing her sight disapprovingly at the TV and then gesturing at her laptop. "And last of all, you moved your dog in whilst I was out looking for work the other day. Oh don't bother consulting with Naomi on whether she's ok with animals or whether she's allergic to them. So now all the surfaces in my house are fucking warm with the blankets of hair that _he_ keeps shedding." She slung a hateful hand at the chocolate brown dog to finish up her assassination.

Emily remained calm, an infuriating trait which Naomi was coming to associate with the redhead. "Firstly Naomi, it's now _our_ house, and secondly _he_ is called Bimbims_. _Thirdly, I'm sorry I've been irritating you but all you had to do was say something and I would have turned the TV down, and tidied up, and kept tighter reigns on Bim's."

"You shouldn't need to be told to tidy up; you're 25 for Jesus sake!" Naomi raised her voice, slamming her laptop shut so that she could concentrate fully on winning this argument. Emily was up from the sofa and encouraging Bim's out of the room within seconds. She then shut the door on the dog as if she were a parent not wanting her child to hear grown-up talk.

"I know things aren't exactly going the way you would prefer them at this point in your life, but it's no excuse to shout at me in front of my dog. Life's not all about having a clean house and monotonous routines." With that Emily was gone, and Naomi rolled her eyes.

"Finally." The blonde sighed.

* * *

"Alright, see you love." Kieran's lips lingered on Gina's cheeks before he reluctantly pulled away, and whisking around the small table of the kitchen, he touched Naomi's forearm in acknowledgment and said. "Bye ladies. Back around ten love."

Silence settled between mother and daughter like a dust activated and sprinkled by the gong of Kieran's departure. It inevitably took Gina breaking it. "So you're not going to ask me how it's been for me living here then?"

Naomi made as if she was still staring off into space, shaking her head in a way that appeared absent as she replied. "So you're not going to ask me about all of the suicide notes I've written over the last two weeks thanks to your handpicked lodger of choice then?"

"Well she hasn't murdered you like you thought she would yet, has she?" Gina dismissed her grumpy daughter's dramatic take on events, placing a mug of something that smelt like it had citrus qualities to Naomi's nose on top of the table.

Naomi's hands neared towards the cup, but the steam swaying up from the _You're a Twat_ mug like a belly dancer's hips was a quick reminder that she could not just pick it up and throw it at her mother without suffering a stinger of a burn in the process. So she kept her hands flat on the table, settling on words instead. "Mum, she is killing me. _Very_ slowly with her intolerable habits. Harmless? More like harm_**ful**_!"

"Well she seemed harmless enough when I showed her around the house. She was polite, charming, not to mention pretty. I bet one of those annoying habits of hers involves bringing lots of big, muscular, sweaty, hot guys back eh?"

Naomi cringed, outwardly, at her mother's description of man and said. "_No_. I think Emily's gay."

"And the plot thickens." Gina grinned with a raised eyebrow. "What makes you think that?"

"Well she's always leaving her shit lying around – you know, one of the actual intolerable habits I was initially referring to – and so I was tidying up last week and I stumbled across some dirty mags. There were _**no**_ naked men to be seen." Naomi shook her head, certainty acting as the making of each motion from left to right.

"Oh yeah? And how do you know, Miss I-hate-porn?" Teased Gina, knowing her daughter's stance on the adult industry.

"Fuck off, I only briefly flicked through one of them because I actually couldn't believe that there were mags, containing pictures of women playing with themselves, sitting on my coffee table. The same coffee table I drink coffee and eat off of."

Gina seemed to be finding all of this awfully funny, having to repeatedly drop her mug from her lips every time another fit of giggles bubbled up in her. However, Naomi was failing to see the humor, especially when she let her mind take her back to the actual event and felt the awkwardness rush her all over again.

Her fingers had filed through a few of the worn pages, blue irises swallowing the lewd images splayed out in front of her, more out of shock than anything else. Some of the poses were impossible, not to mention ridiculously filthy. Nothing that Naomi could've ever conjured from her pure and embarrassingly inexperienced mind. So when the husky voice: "I've been looking for those. Thanks." Floated casually over her shoulder, she'd jumped, a blush furiously spreading throughout her face.

Like it was nothing, Emily had reached forward and taken the magazines, smiling as she flicked through the same pages that Naomi's fingers had traced seconds previous. "Mmm." Was all the smirking redhead had offered before disappearing off to her room with the mags.

Naomi had just stood there in the lounge staring into space, kind of like she was sat in Kieran's kitchen right now, staring off into space.

"Polite, charming, gay little redhead. Porn, coffee, magazines. Sounds like the makings of a box office movie to me. I'd watch it." Gina chuckled.

Naomi flinched back into the present at her mother's stupid joke. "You're so lame." She scolded.

"No, what's lame _Naomi_, is you sitting In that chair moaning about your new lodger when you should be out there trying to find a new job. You shouldn't have to put up with the way they treat you there."

"I _am_ looking!" Naomi countered, offense settling conspicuously over her features, because it felt like her mother's mention of her current job situation was somehow an invalidation of the hours of dedication she'd spent trying to find another job. "I've not had much luck so far, but Freddie's coming round for dinner tomorrow. We're going to talk and I'm going to try to get him to reconsider demoting me. The whole thing was unjust, and I'm not leaving until I get some acknowledgement of such."

Gina frowned and became sympathetic for her daughter's stubborn nature. "No point struggling love, when you could just let it go and find another job somewhere else."

"Mum I was Governor for two years. I'd always done an excellent job of it, and now I'm just supposed to grin when he demotes me and gives her my bloody job just because he's fucking her? Well you're all fucked if you think I'm going to take it lying down." Naomi snapped.

"Don't blow up at me mardy bum. I'm just trying to save you the bother."

The irritated blonde rolled her eyes, and got out from behind the snug little kitchen table. "I'm gonna go home and see if I can persuade Emily to make herself scarce for the dinner tomorrow night. Last thing I need is for Freddie to see her in one of her many t-shirts with the word _fuck_ printed on them."

"Ok, well have fun love." Gina waved at the now swinging kitchen door, no hint of her daughter's presence.

When Naomi arrived home from yet another unsuccessful day of job hunting, she slung her bag at the dog hair covered sofa, her body soon to follow. She closed her eyes and expelled a drawn out sigh.

The calm was breached shortly after, when Emily walked through the front door, breezing past the grumpy blonde with a merry smile whilst heading into the kitchen. Naomi frowned. The redhead was always so fucking chirpy. In fact, she'd yet to experience Emily on a downer, and it was annoying, especially when she herself constantly seemed to be caught up in one.

"What are you always so happy about? I mean, you're living with a complete stranger, in a place you hardly know, and you have all but a box full of belongings to your name."

Naomi's dig fetched Emily from whatever she was doing in the kitchen and brought her back into the lounge, that smile still firm in place. "What's not to be happy about?" Emily shrugged. "I'm living with a complete stranger, in a place I hardly know, with all but a box full of belongings to my name." She said, leaving it for Naomi to work out.

Of course the blonde's frown only deepened. "You have nothing." Naomi said, her frustration causing her to become even more direct.

Emily shook her head. "I have everything. The mistake that so many people make is becoming too attached. Jobs, houses, money, possessions. I have all but a box full of belongings to my name because that's all the stuff I chose to bring with me. I'm living in an area I don't really know too well, and I'm simply in love with that fact. It's got an air of exploration to it, a certain freedom and fun to it. Lastly, I'm living with a complete stranger, although I'm sure I've met you in my life a million times before, in the form of my secondary school teachers, politicians, your average naive member of the public. They're all equally as in need of control, all equally as lost."

Naomi gulped and stared at the woman reading her, feeling a sudden chill fall over her.

"I'm free; I have everything." Emily concluded, shifting off and leaving Naomi slumped in the sofas with something new to think about.

Lost, Naomi thought. Lost?

Maybe she was lost; she certainly wasn't found, constantly searching for something, whether it be a job, or the right shade of beige paint, or fulfillment in something which was never going to deliver it. The thought infuriated her, because lost meant a lack of control and Naomi only spoke and read control. All of her gestures were borne out of it. It was everything, she was _attached_ to it, and now this feeling of lostness was attached to the scarlet haired woman who'd just highlighted it and then skipped off upstairs.

Later on in the evening, Naomi was just placing a plate full of appetizing food in front of her boss, watching him lean forward into its aroma and grin. "Smells fantastic." He commended, nodding as though the blonde had just passed a wing inspection.

Naomi sat opposite Mr. Mclair and smiled purely because it felt appropriate.

'Well, what did you want to speak to me about?" He enquired.

Naomi waited until the fork had disappeared into the dark hole of her boss's mouth before answering. "My demotion."

His head jarred up and he looked at her with something she could only describe as slight exasperation. "Naomi, we hadn't had a suicide on L wing in over five years, and then you become wing Governor and we lose three women in the space of two years. Something is being overlooked and we can't afford to keep attracting such bad press. Prisons get enough of a bad rap."

"I understand Mr. Mclair, but I assure you I did my absolute best to prevent those suicides. All three of them had been on suicide watch and I had instructed each one of their personal officers to keep an eye out. They were all seeing the prison counselor too. I'd suspected all three potential suicides and I took the appropriate actions in trying to prevent those girls from taking their lives. But unfortunately, if someone wants to end it, they're going to find a way." Naomi defended herself, coming off sounding a little cold to Mr. Mclair's ears.

"Three girls have killed themselves and all you care about is getting your position back Miss. Campbell. Now step in if I'm wrong, but that is not the sort of person I need running L wing. The prison service has changed, and because of that it only makes sense that the way that it's handled changes too. Now I'm sorry, but Governor Wilson is doing an excellent job in the places you couldn't."

"Getting my position back is not all I care about Freddie!" She bit, all respectful tone lost. "But I feel I was unjustly demoted. I followed procedure with those three girls to the fucking book. There was nothing more that I could've done, and I feel like you're just using this as an excuse because you wanted to keep your slut happy by giving her my job. L wing are not flourishing under Wilson's watch. The drug problem is worse than ever now."

The tall, tanned-skinned man pushed out of the chair and stood. "Well it looks like Ms. Wilson has just lost her deputy officer. It's a shame too, because you were going places Naomi. Still, I'm sure Pandora would love the now vacant position."

Naomi was done biting her lip, not that she already had been. "Well good luck with having a bunch of incompetent fuckclowns running that place. You watch; absolute chaos is going to ensue." She promised, glaring. "Now get out of my house."

As soon as Mr. Mclair was out of the door, Naomi dropped to her dinner table seat, snatching the bottle of wine and necking it.

She was more than swaying an hour later, words slurring as she mocked her ex boss's voice to herself. It'd been quite a sight for Emily when she'd gotten in, the ever erect and stern blonde she lived with slumped face-down on the dinner table muttering drunken digs. She giggled to herself and walked over, grabbing the close to empty bottle before draining the two drops left. "So how did the dinner go?" The redhead asked, eying the two full plates sitting cold.

Naomi's head slowly rose from the table, a disoriented frown captured by her forehead. "How the fuck do you think it…" Words trailed into non-existence as the blonde let her heavy head fall back to the table with a harsh thud. Though she didn't flinch or cry out in pain.

"Drunken Naomi is now officially one of my favorite things in the entire world." Emily chuckled, taking her hands to the under hooks of Naomi's armpits. "Come on, let's get you into bed."

"You'd love that wouldn't you?" Naomi suddenly sprang out of Emily's assisting grasp, hands slurring in random and unnecessary gestures. "'Cause you enjoy vagiiina." She began to laugh hard then, and the redhead stood in front of her couldn't help but join in.

"Well I wouldn't say no." Emily quipped casually, grabbing a more secure grasp around Naomi's shoulders and helping her up the stairs.

With the blonde's body hitting the bed, Emily hadn't been expecting to hear: "Where do you go?"

"Excuse me?"

Naomi snorted. "You're hardly ever here. I know because when you are here you bug the shit out of me, and when you aren't I feel all frustration leave me. So where do you go, because helping out at a retreat doesn't require _that_ many hours?"

Emily chuckled at the blonde's cheek. "Nowhere special. Just out and about." She shrugged.

A silence materialized then and Emily took it as her cue to leave, but Naomi had other plans. "What did you mean when you said I was lost?"

"It's nothing to be ashamed of." Emily quickly answered, sensing that the blonde had been slightly wounded by her earlier words. "I was lost for a long time, trying to juggle everybody's plate but my own."

Naomi's intoxicated brain couldn't make sense of Emily's riddles. "What the bloody hell are you going on about?"

"That's what happens." Emily sat at the foot of the bed, seeming to go somewhere else in her head. "We come into life and from the get go we're taught to juggle everybody else's needs and wants, rarely paying any attention to our own. It's a pretty effective way to lose who you are, to become a person who can only function when you have the approval of others because you've trained yourself away from your own. You see it in this sheep mentality that seems to be rife in the human race; people going out to work when they hate their jobs because it's just the way that things are in society. People have become far too tolerant of discomfort, almost to the point that they think of it as normality. Then there are the people getting married to people they don't love, people staying in absolutely excruciating relationships. People not allowing their own desires to see the light of day because they're afraid of what others will think. Girl's who'll whore themselves out to anyone to quell that feeling of worthlessness, and with every person that they give themselves to they just end up feeling more and more worthless, and that's because they're looking for love in all the wrong places. Love isn't external; it's within. A lot of people think they're in control by following the rules and doing as they're supposed to, but a lot of the time the truth is that they're letting someone else pull the strings. It is simply illogical, and it's why a lot of people are so unhappy."

A strange, unexpected, sense of empowerment swiftly began to awaken within Naomi, nudging her slurs and sloppy movements into a different dimension, it would seem. She understood the basics of what Emily was saying, but more than anything she'd felt the passion emanating from the small redhead sitting at the foot of her bed. Raw, untainted, passion and a sense of infallible knowing.

"And…what about me?" Naomi dared to ask, not quite sure if she wanted Emily to delve into her.

"I'd love to see you start to colour outside of the lines Naomi." Was all the guru-like redhead offered, before standing with a smile, waving her goodnight and then leaving the room.

**Review and tell me what you think please?**


	4. Chapter 4

***Blushes like a geek whilst accepting Kickstart's flower* lol Thank you! I can't accept chocolates though. I give free fic :P hahaha, so you enjoy them :D For those who aren't familiar with the term 'L7', make an L with your left hand and then make a 7 with your right. What shape do you get?**

**Vero, i'm glad you resonated with Emily's speech. Lots of ppl look at me like i'm crazy when i point out the way that society and socialization works. Hmmm, maybe naomi will find herself. And its nice to know that we all enjoy a bit of sassy, self-confident emily. Always thought she was sexier that way.**

**Big, BIG thanks to every single person who has read this, reviewed, favorited or alerted.**

Sat in front of the TV one afternoon, Naomi began to think about the prison service and all that she'd endured and taken from it over the years. Her job had been about nothing but control, she decided, thinking about L wing. Controlling the criminal's behavior, controlling the officer's duties…control of something that didn't involve her having to think about the lack of control over her own happiness. The blonde became rather grateful for Freddie dismissing her, a place she _never_ thought she'd ever reach.

She nodded to herself, thinking of Emily's words from the other night. "Colouring outside of the lines."

Dancing maybe? That'd be colouring outside of the lines for the L7 blonde. She'd always made sure that her body ceased to respond to music, even when her ears smiled to it…_even_ when she was alone. It was what she considered an unacceptable act, not for anybody else though. Just her.

Clubbing? Naomi had never liked the idea of going out clubbing. After all, what was the point of going out, getting rat-faced, pulling some tit, shagging, only for said tit to bin you the next day? Of course, she'd never actually witnessed any of this herself or heard first-hand accounts from friends, since…there weren't any. Television was her informer, yet another external influence that she'd let dictate to her experience…or lack of.

They were hitting her, as she sat in the lounge pondering these things, Emily's words were. Or rather the veracity and relevance of them.

Then, as if knowing she was needed, Emily strode into the lounge, Bimbims' collar jingling pleasantly with every step he followed behind his fiery haired companion.

"Were you watching this?" Asked the redhead, whilst leaning down for the remote control sitting on the coffee table.

"You told me you'd like to see me begin to colour outside of the lines. How?"

Naomi's enquiry stopped Emily in her motion, and a subtle but perceptible smirk broke out of Emily's lips, her head later leaning on its side. "If I told you that, you'd still be colouring inside of the lines. My lines. I can't tell you what's going to make you happy. Only you know that. Give it a try; just sit and think about the things that'd make you happy if they came to fruition. A lot of people focus on the things that they don't want to happen in the hopes that they can prevent such, so focusing of things desired might feel a little strange to you at first. You'll get used to it though. I did."

Emily wink-smiled and continued to scoop the remote control up into her feminine little hands.

Naomi blinked, looking around the room as though the fixtures and fittings were going to lend her a clue as to where she should start, and when they didn't she asked. "How do you know all of this… _stuff_? I wouldn't say it's political stuff either, it's more…"

Crimson hair gently lashed her cheeks as the redhead dropped down next to her on the sofa, and helped her out with the completion of her question."Spiritual?"

The blonde lit up. "Yes! Spiritual! It's like…"Naomi paused to process the jumble of thoughts she'd come up with in her time alone. "Once you get the feeling shit about yourself over and done with, there's a limitless supply of empowerment available, you know? It feels…" She shrugged away all of the negative connotations which so easily came to mind when she'd ever heard the word spiritual and said. "Spiritual."

She looked to her side to find her lodger smiling a smile of pure adoration at her, and the blonde found herself fidgeting under it.

"I meditate." Emily answered, as if all was simple. "You'd be surprised what truths you hear when you quieten the chatter of your brain, Naomi."

Blue eyes watched Bimbims crawl up and curl into Emily with a love strong felt, and Naomi didn't know what it was but everything felt big in that moment, like the poles were shifting or something.

"I want to learn." She then suddenly blurted.

* * *

Itches bubbling up in places she never even knew existed, ridiculous randoms popping into her head, the washing, the spider she'd exploded all over the wall with her shoe the other night, even Santa clause and his stupid white beard. They were all making it impossible for Naomi to sit still on her bed and 'quieten the chatter of her brain,' as Emily had so stereotypically put it.

She just couldn't understand why she wasn't getting this meditation thing right. Why she _couldn't_. After all, it was only sitting down and doing nothing for Christ sake. Nothing. Which knobhead couldn't do that?

Apparently her.

It was getting to her, just like it always did when she found herself faced with a challenge she couldn't overcome, because she was Naomi fucking Campbell, and she was used to challenges becoming wobbly-kneed and falling when she stared them in the eye…or maybe she wasn't, which could've been why she was so bloody frustrated.

Meditation? Supposed to relax and calm? More like raise the pressure of the blood and cause heart attacks.

"Fuck this." She relaxed her back and opened her eyes…only to find Emily stood in the doorway. A sudden need to spring up from the bed and make things look casual quickly cascaded over the flustered blonde. "This isn't one of your depraved pornographic DVDs you know; _I_ actually _mind_ you watching _me_." It was harsh, but the guilt racking her thanks to the fact that she'd snapped Emily's head off, felt much better than the feelings of embarrassment she felt at having been caught failing to pull of meditation. At the feelings of embarrassment she felt at having been caught _failing_ full stop.

"I'm beginning to think you enjoy my _collection_ almost as much as me Naomi." Emily smirked. "But yeah, I'm sorry. Didn't mean to gawp. I literally just got in the doorway as you opened your eyes babe."

Already agitated, Naomi wasn't doing any better off for being referred to as 'babe'. "I'm not a babe. I'm 26."

"Why can't you be both? Let go of the boxes you've put yourself in. _And_ my babe-o-meter is telling me you're a babe right now. Deal with it."

Naomi's entire expression panned dead…"What did you want anyway?"

Emily fanned a few leaflets in the air. "Just to give you these." She then tossed them to the bed. "A few tips on how to meditate. I erm, saw you were giving it a go when I interrupted. I'm sorry."

Blue eyes rolled, and their owner shrugged, putting out a relenting sigh. "Yeah well it's making me fucking homicidal! Like, I'm actually seriously considering looking up guns on the net when I get done here. What's your method?"

Emily had eyes to roll of her own and chuckled. "Yeah, because the whole purpose of meditation is to give you the courage to go out there and shoot people in the face. Like, right there." She prodded the space between her eyebrows, nodding like she meant it.

"You're such a sarcastic little –"

"Naomi, meditation can be pretty personal. Everybody eventually finds their own way of doing it. One which works best for them. Take a gander through those." Suggested Emily, gesturing at the leaflets. "Take out what resonates with you and leave the rest."

Satisfied that her part was over, she instructed her feet out of the door, only stopping on the landing to smile when she heard a small, "Thanks," from the blonde.

"No prob's babe." She said to herself with a grin.

* * *

Emily Fitch wasn't shy. Naomi was quickly learning that. In the month and a half that the red haired woman had been lodging, Naomi had seen it all...quite literally. It'd started with the lack of clothing that Emily would wear whilst lazing around the house. The blonde had endured the sight of Emily's porcelain legs, chest, _and_ arms the time she'd found Emily walking around the landing in nothing but a pair of girl boxers. As well as dancing, it was also unacceptable to show yourself in such a manner, as far as Naomi was concerned, and her beliefs had bled through heavily when she hadn't known where to put her face, whilst a more than half-naked Emily waved at her with a small smirk before disappearing into the bathroom.

Throughout the days since, Naomi would occasionally catch herself outlining the fullness of Emily's breasts in her mind, mostly for comparison, least for something else which she couldn't quite put words to. It was fascinating to her that a person would have such little qualms about showing their body – or even seem to relish in having the eyes of others roaming their bare flesh. It made her more than uncomfortable, but then, nothing made Naomi stiffen up quicker than when she'd randomly catch the redhead's chestnut orbs resting on her, especially with knowing how perceptive her lodger was. It made Naomi feel like she was under a microscope, like she was constantly being read and analyzed. Naomi wasn't used to that.

She was usually the one doing the analyzing. Doing the judging.

Judge Naomi was alive and in all of her glory as she walked into her front room to a sound indicative of kissing. She frowned, the deeper she walked in because the television wasn't on, and then shrieked the moment her brain processed the two naked, gyrating forms rolling around on the good carpet. A flurry of emotions passed through her, from shock, to embarrassment, to disgust, to second-hand embarrassment for the caught now scrambling for their discarded clothes.

Eventually she just turned her back to the sexing pair, hands clamped over her mouth, a muffled, "Fuck." Squelching out.

"I'm sorry Naomi. I didn't think you'd be back so soon." So deep and husky was the voice coming from behind, that Naomi could decipher the arousal which was still swimming in it. The whole thing made her boil and she span around to face the dressing pair.

Flinging an irate finger at the timid looking brunette trying to hide behind her redheaded lover, Naomi barked. "Get _that_ out of my house now!"

The mousy little brunette flinched at the hatred being directed at her and quickly came to the obvious conclusion: "Emily, you've been living here with your girlfriend the entire time we've been seeing each other?"

Emily rolled her eyes, sighing boredly. "No Shannon. This very angry lady is not my girlfriend. We're just sort of roomies."

The brunette's emerald eyes flitted to Naomi for confirmation.

"Are you fucked or something, as well as being a whore? Course I'm not her fucking girlfriend! Now get out!"

Emily stepped in then. "Come on Naomi. There's absolutely no need for name-calling. Thought you would've had a bit more class than that."

Emily's admonishment shook the blonde so hard, that it was a miracle her body wasn't trembling with the turbulence. She'd been scolded by her redheaded lodger, and the burn that her pulsating heart was tattooing into her ribcage was like a voice telling her that she cared what Emily thought of her. Perhaps a little too much.

And as with everything else Naomi didn't understand, it infuriated her.

"You want to talk about class Emily, really? I just caught you shagging some random on my living room carpet and _I'm_ the one lacking class here?"

"I don't pretend to have any." Emily quickly responded. "Whereas you pride yourself on it. After all class is something that is perceived by how you think others perceive you, the majority of the time isn't it? And we all know how crippled your personality has become thanks to your constant rewiring of how you act to please others."

"And…I'm not a random." Shannon meekly raised her hands.

Of course Emily's rolling eyes would suggest otherwise, as she awaited the furious blonde's comeback. However, she wasn't expecting: "I want you and all of this debauchery out of my house by the end of the week."

"I've already paid until the end of the month." Protested the redhead, calmly.

"I'll give you the money back then won't I?" The blonde yelled.

"Then who's going to run this place? You're currently unemployed, and I already had to make up the difference because you were lacking the funds to pay your half. You're screwed without me Naomi, so get over your idea of debauchery and just fucking chill out a little. God's sake." Whined Emily, walking a dressed Shannon to the front door to let her out.

It was the first time Naomi had ever heard Emily swear, and she paused to let that thought register. She didn't know how to feel about the fact that it'd been directed at her. She just knew that she was still feeling angry, even if it had subdued a stitch.

"Well if I'm stuck with you, you're moving up into the attic. It'll be finished in a matter of days, and the less I have to see your constant smirk, the fucking better."

Locking the door, Emily glanced over her shoulder at the annoyed blonde, and shrugged. "Well we'll see how spacious it is, and if _I_ decide that I like it up there, I'll agree to move up there won't I?"

Stubborn cunt, was all Naomi could think. As bad as it sounds, she despised the fact that she couldn't push Emily around and tell her what to do, like she'd done with her wing officers and inmates for so many years. She wasn't in control when Emily was around and the redhead let her know it, really made her _feel_ it. The small 25 year old Fitch often reminded the blonde of one of those large stones built into the ground; unmovable, unshakable, strong and defiant. If anything, Naomi was jealous. She may have been taller and more experienced with her harsh ways of chopping people down, but nothing that she could do seemed to be able to challenge the power of the scarlet haired woman living with her, and inevitably she beat herself into an inferiority complex about it.

The only thing she had left to say was, "Whatever Emily. You're fucked if you think I'm going to put up with you shagging women in my home. Do you know how much this carpet cost? I'm not going to have it covered in stains from you and your '_mates'_."

"Well someone here has to get laid. I bet poor old Valarie is starving." Emily was back to smirking as she gestured at Naomi's womanhood.

"Can you not see how cracking jokes about my vagina would piss me off even fucking more right now Emily?"

She stopped smirking then, the redhead did, and something about her became softer. "I rather enjoy living here with you. I like your mood swings, the grumpy little huffs you make when you spill something on the worktop or stub your toe on something. The smile that breaks free from your face when that silly program you like starts. You're rather amusing. I like the area too. It's nice, an ideal place for me to've began the next chapter in my life. There are so many things for me to find appreciation for here, _including_ the women. You guys aren't hard on the eye and I'm only human."

Naomi had gradually felt her pulse rate slowing with every bit of Emily's speech, and by the end of it she'd discovered that most of the anger had left her body, gone off to plague someone else. Maybe it was because Emily's tone had softened. Or maybe it was because she was discovering that Emily was just like her, only human, with unquenchable thirsts, weaknesses, and urges too. Perfect because of imperfection. It was a small thing to realize, but it made all the difference with Naomi's feelings of inferiority, and she felt herself becoming appreciative of this whole debacle…carpet stains and all.

"Wow, I'm impressed." Emily said, a mere two days later, as her eyes took around the light and spacious attic. She slowly twirled in its center, giving herself a look at the rest of it, and smiled at the particles of dust floating carelessly by in the line of light coming in through the attic window. "I'll take it." She beamed, turning to Naomi, whose shoulders were just relaxing with the long breath she let out.

"Oh come on. Surely I'm not that much of a nuisance to live with, Naomi."

"_Really_, you are." Naomi nodded emphatically, only popping a smile on her face to do damage control just in case Emily decided that she'd remain living downstairs just to irritate her for her cheek.

"Great." Emily said with humorous glum, before considering the blonde standing a few steps away from her with thoughtful eyes. "What's your problem with people Naomi?" She finally asked.

"They irritate me."

"Why?"

Naomi's cheeks grew inflated with her frustrated sigh. "They just do!"

Emily let one of those grins take full reign of her expression; one of those grins which always fell over her face whenever Naomi's ornery attitude amused her, and she stepped towards the exasperated blonde. "People are a big part of our lives Naomi. People built this house, people filter the water which pours out of the taps, people deliver your mail and make the clothes you buy over the internet. People, people, people."

It was becoming such now that Naomi could sense when one of Emily's _moments_ was coming on. First the redhead's face would often take on an almost dreamy state, like she was staring into another world and not at the actual wall opposite, and her voice would coat in excess husk.

This was one of those moments, and frankly, Naomi couldn't be bothered, so she turned away from Emily's annoyingly happy smile and began to walk towards the attic door.

"Us people, we're everywhere Naomi. We're persistent like that." Emily called to the empty doorway.

**Review and tell me what you think please?**


	5. Chapter 5

**Just so you guys know, i was nearly quite literally knocked off of my feet by all of the reviews i recieved for the last chapter. But i am not complaining...the broken leg is worth it lol. Thank you so, so much for your comments. Your interest in this story is staggering :)**

**Ok Kickstarts, i'll accept your chocolates, put four pounds on and then bitch at you relentlessly for it. Happy? :P lmfao! How about we share them? Eating alone is boring. You want Bimbims? lol. Well another reviewer has also expressed interest in Bim's, and suggested that you may have to fight over him, although i'm not sure our Em's is going to let either of you two just take her dog, so...I think we should take this case to Judge Judy :D**

**UNF, i have seen Eat, Pray, Love too! I cried from the sheer beauty of it at least 3 times lol. Beautiful, gorgeous film. I've already been to see it twice...with different ppl of course. It's wonderful to see hollywood making common knowledge of the powerful knowledge that so many have known throughout the years. Beautiful movie!**

**HappyAsIam.x, patience my pretty ; ) We need the story to be realistic.**

**Niceoneblondie, ever last one of your comments was...FTW! :)**

**I'm delighted that you guys are picking up on the subtleties of Naomi slowly but surely transforming; means i'm doing my job right. Anyway, i'll be quiet now.**

* * *

Gina peered around what used to be her kitchen with wide eyes, noticing its new personality. The space she used to reserve on the wall for her _Make Love, not War_ oven gloves was now adorned with a Buddha scroll-out calendar. The windowsill held an unlit candle. The fraying ends, which Gina had always thought gave character to the welcome mat was now half covered by a deep silver dog bowl, and her old ganger leaf teapot had been replaced with some metallic thing which looked like it'd fallen off of a robot.

Naomi's eyes were too busy in the job ads of the newspaper to take account of the sense of loss subtly floating around in her mother's, but Emily was right there experiencing every emotion with the older Campbell, and when the sound of Gina's heart anguishing reached climax, the redhead devised a plan.

"Naomi, where did you put that other teapot?" She asked, seemingly out of the blue.

The unusual request had Naomi look up from her paper."Teapot?"

"Yeah, you know those things you pour tea out of?" Emily concocted a makeshift cup with her hand, further making like she was pouring something into it when Naomi frowned. "You _must_ have come across them at least once in your 26 years."

Naomi nodded towards one of the cupboards, didn't even bother to scowl at her lodger; she was learning that scowling got her nowhere with Emily…Or maybe she was just becoming immune to Emily's sarcasm. It was one of them.

It took a bit of fumbling since Naomi had made sure to bury that ugly fucking teapot under even uglier plates and rusty pans, but thanks to the advantage of having petite, feminine limbs, Emily managed to work the teapot out, and she placed it on top of the work surface with a purposeful thud. "Right, tea anyone?" She asked, a little puffed for breath, but it was all worth it to watch the biggest smile ever dawn on Gina's face.

After some time Gina broke from her nostalgic trance with the little teapot to flick her wrist. "Oh go on then." She smiled, rather excited, as she sat next to her daughter at the table. "I've already had a zillion cups of tea today, but what harm's one more gonna do eh? It's not like I'm not wearing an incontinence pad if an accident should occur, is it?"

"How did I not have you as my mother?" Emily chuckled, shaking her head at the sheer injustice of it all.

"Well I won't tell anyone you're not my daughter if you don't love." Gina said, looking to her actual daughter and then nudging her.

Naomi sighed and dragged her eyes away from the newspaper to regard her mother boredly. "What?"

"Well forget it if you're gonna be like that mardy bum."

"Mardy bum?" Emily repeated with a giggle, the term new to her ears. She then suddenly frowned and pointed an authoritive finger at the far wall, voice booming. "You over there, stop being a mardy bum!"

Naomi dropped her newspaper to the table and stared at the redhead like she was a bottle of gone-off milk, but such a look only encouraged Emily to grin and share her findings with the room: "Mardy bum: I like it. It's got personality."

"Having fun over there?" The blonde grumbled.

Emily scooped the steaming hot cups of tea from the worktop, her walk over to the table slow and respectful of the pain that would occur should she spill them. Sighting all of her concentration into sitting one mug in front of Naomi and the other in front of Gina, she said with a casual absence: "Oh I'm always having fun when you're around Naoms."

Gina raised her eyebrow. "Naoms?"

But neither of the other two women seemed to be taking any notice of her, and it was just as well since she now couldn't stop glancing between them, the show of flowers and love hearts dancing around her daughter and Emily visible only to her eyes. Screw trying to persuade Kieran into letting her move the homeless guy she'd met outside of Asda into theirs so that she could reform him, because there was another project, a little closer to home, just begging for her interference.

Like there was no guarantee of tomorrow, Gina got right on it. "So Naomi tells me you're gay, Emily."

"Mum!" Naomi scolded, immediately looking to Emily, who was just turning her head to return the blonde's anxious glance. They held eyes for a moment, Emily's smirk healthier than Naomi had ever seen it, so healthy that it deeply uneased the blonde. They'd never really spoken out openly about Emily's…gayness, for lack of better wording. Yes, there had been that fiasco with Shannon the other day, but that had been more an incident. They hadn't really discussed the homosexuality of it all. Naomi supposed it was because the whole thing made her uncomfortable, made her fidget – not because she was homophobic. She wasn't homophobic; it was just Emily. The way that Emily wore lesbianism, always making it seem so sexual and lust-filled, always walking around with next to nothing on. Always prancing around with no shame. And sex _was_ shameful, Naomi had been taught that from almost everyone when she was a kid. It was dirty, something to be done in the shadows, an insatiable desire which needed to be taken care of every once in a while. Frankly, the blonde was uptight about conventional sex, so the idea of lesbians was hardly going to enthuse her was it? The whole subject was very much the pink elephant in the room, although Naomi suspected that the only one bothered by this elephant…was her.

"Ok, you've caught me; hang the gay sign around my neck." Emily held her hands up and smiled, doing a shit job of hiding the smirks she kept regarding the older blonde's fidgeting daughter with. Not that she was actually putting much effort into making them subtle.

Gina took cautious sips from her still scorching tea, playing an innocent interest. "Hmm, so what is it about a woman that really gets you _**going**_?" She balled her free hand and gave it a shake for emphasis. "I bet you're one for lingerie and things like that aren't you?"

Naomi couldn't actually believe her ears – or eyes. Perhaps she had been abducted by aliens and some green slimy creature had swapped her senses with somebody – or _something_ – else's, because surely…

This was ridiculous.

"I really don't know..." Emily peered off, thumbing her chin in thought, and Naomi rolled her eyes so hard that they almost got them stuck in the back of their sockets, because Emily was actually going to answer?

"I'm going to do the ironing…or something." Naomi got up.

Her mother grasped for her wrist and tugged her back down into the seat, all whist smiling over her mug at the still thinking redhead. "No you're not."

Before Naomi had any time to complain about the pain now coursing throughout her arse, Emily spoke up. "Lingerie's nice, but it's not essential – and I don't know," She shrugged. "I just don't seem to be able to control myself around a beautiful woman, Gina."

"Really?" Gina slowly shook her head, eyes big and round, as if what Emily had just said was the most intriguing, amazing thing ever.

"Really." Emily confirmed, amused.

"Oh it's fascinating stuff this is, isn't it love?" Gina nudged her daughter for the second time.

"Riveting." Naomi quickly agreed, and she promptly picked her newspaper back up so that she could hide behind it.

Things were left at that then…until Emily left the room to go and do something or another. _**The**_ moment the redhead's back was turned Gina began to drum her fingers against the table, a trait which Naomi had known her mother to perform when something inapt was about to come out of her mouth. The paper lowered slightly so that the blonde could see her mother's face.

"Spit it out mum."

Gina leaned a little away from her daughter as if to get a better look at her. As if she didn't already know every cell, freckle and mole of her daughter already. "You know Naomi, you're a very _beautiful_ young woman." She observed, like it was the first time she'd ever noticed.

Naomi's blue's remained skeptical, not because she didn't believe she was beautiful, but because she knew her mother. "And?"

"Well you've been single for close to ten years now love _and_ our gorgeous little lodger can't control herself around beautiful women." As Gina had approached the end of her sentence she'd begun to bounce her palms off of each other in excitement, and then she'd winked at her daughter.

If Naomi's eyes grew any wider, they were probably going to fall out. "Are you shitting me?"

"Of course not love." Gina replied with a frown, as though 'shitting' someone was a possible thing.

"That's preposterous mum, and you know it. I'm not gay, you blooming idiot."

"You haven't been anything for the last ten years hun." Said Gina softly, putting a concerned but supportive hand to her daughter's lower back.

Her mother was right, Naomi _hadn't_ been anything for the last ten years. Sometimes the 26 year old would just sit and think about how pathetic it was that her mother got more play than she did. But it was easy to sit and berate herself, to tell herself that it was best that she remain alone, because situations like the one she'd gotten herself into with Robert couldn't happen again if she was alone.

She gulped down a ball filled with tears and managed: "It has nothing to do with you mum. Back off."

Gina's expression distressed as she watched her daughter in pain. She'd never hated anyone, Gina. It was always love, love, love wherever she went, but if she ever saw that Robert Moore again, she was going to string him up from the rafters by his pea-sized balls and beat him like a piñata, for the state he'd left her daughter in. She was always telling herself that she _had_ to reach Naomi, because she couldn't bear the thought of Naomi going to her grave and never having really loved anyone because she'd been too scared. Too damaged. It was time to try from a different another angle, Gina decided. "Look, you joined the prison service because you wanted to get twats like him, and now that you're no longer with the prison service, you've got to find another way to say fuck you. What better way than to let yourself be happy?"

Let yourself be happy, Naomi rolled the words around inside of her mind, and something that Emily had been on about the other day came hurling back at her.

It had been another one of those instances where Naomi's had put the shopping off long enough for her favorite pop to have ran out, and she'd quite humorously been moaning about how bland the squash, which she was now going to have to drink, was to Bimbims, who seemed to be nodding his head and rolling his eyes in all of the right places.

Emily had just so happened to be parched thanks to the strenuous task of moving a new cabinet up into the attic, and had swung by the kitchen to make a drink for herself, when she heard what negativity the grumbling blonde was subjecting her dog to. Again, the redhead found herself ushering her pet out of the room and shutting the door behind his fluffy little wagging tail.

Naomi dropped her toast to the worktop, "Hey, I was talking to him."

Emily stood in front Naomi and shrugged, "What's the big deal? It's just drink; let yourself be happy." She then walked over to the cupboards, hauling out the blackcurrant and orange squash. "It's not the end of the world because we're out of ginger beer, but because of the thoughts you're _choosing_ to surround this matter with, it seems like it's the end of the world doesn't it?"

Naomi hadn't quite known how to respond. Was that supposed to've been a rhetorical question? She felt like she had one foot inside of Emily's classroom and the other, well, she wasn't quite sure where the other one was situated. But it was ok because Emily didn't need an answer before she could continue.

"Stop _choosing_ to think 'end of the world', and start _choosing_ to think something else with regards to this subject." Emily had said, beating her palm passionately every time she said the word 'choosing'. "So you've got orange and blackcurrant squash. Yeah, they're pretty bland alone, so we could think creative and have some fun mixing them together – maybe ever freeze them and make slushies. Have fun with your solutions Naomi. Not everything's the end of the world. It's all in the way that you think." Emily squinted, drumming a finger at the side of her head. "Thoughts are _everything_. Choose your happiness a thought at a time. Why feel bad when you have the power to feel good?"

Stunned. In awe. Yeah, Naomi had been both of those in that moment, watching Emily throw on her jacket and then announce. "I'll pop to the shop and get some mango juice; we can toss that into the mix too. It'll be fun, way more fun than you ever could've derived from pouring a boring glass of ginger beer and chugging it in seconds."

And Emily had been spot on too. Fun it was. The mixing together of all three drinks, trying their sweet and tropical taste, sticking bottles of this new drink in the freezer and experiencing a geeky excitement bubble every time the thought '_I wonder if it's turned to slush yet?_' arose in Naomi's head whilst she moved throughout daily tasks. No one would ever have known that just hours ago she'd been throwing a tantrum over there not being any ginger beer in the house. Ginger beer? Ginger beer who?

Naomi hadn't even noticed what Emily had shown her that day – too caught up in the childishness of slurping her slushy and poking at it with a straw – but thinking about it now, she saw that there really hadn't been any need for her to've been crumbling over the fact that there had been no ginger beer, when she'd had other options…It was just a matter of _giving_ _herself_ those options, she was now fully realizing.

Naomi stared into her mother's concerned eyes for a long moment, before making a decision. "I am." She nodded. "I am going to let myself be happy."

**Review and tell me what you think please?**


	6. Chapter 6

**I LOVE YOU GUYS! You're so kind to me with your reviews. Your encouragement is overwhelming...in a good way :D I suppose it's why the next few chapters are just flowing from my fingers...well obviously it's coming from my brain first and then flowing to my fingers to the keyboard :P But you guys are amazing : )**

**Kickstarts, how did you know i was jumping up and down in joy every time you review? You have a camera planted in my home don't you :P lol. I'm just going to let Bimbims run away in the fic, and then you guys can go on Judge Judy and battle for him...or you can go on gladiators. Emily'll be none the wiser. lol**

**HappyAsIAm.x, sorry i don't have a twitter : ) Glad you're feeling the love though hun. *hugs* :D**

**RuinMylife, i wasn't taking your review as a bad comment...until you pointed it out lol. Don't worry your pretty little head, i have plenty in store for both these girls. They'll grow together : ) And it was a marvelous comment! I love your enthusiasm. Thank you for sharing it with me :)**

**Ps: No dogs were harmed in the making of this chapter. lol**

**Hope i don't disappoint.**

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Things had calmed somewhat in Naomi's mind since Emily had settled in the attic. Things were easier. She could get tasks done on her laptop without really having to worry about the sound of feet slapping the floor and taking her out of her 'zone.' She was less having to form an orderly queue behind the redhead before she could grab something from the kitchen cupboard. She was no longer coiling stiff at the frequent porcelain flesh on show. Most of Emily's messes were confined to the attic now too, and Naomi kind of felt like she was getting her house back, and in turn getting a piece of herself back, well…except for the times where Emily would make an appearance in the main quarters to let women out of the house.

The sex-tussled redhead would always wave and smile on her way back up to the attic though, so Naomi supposed that was something, since she was currently trying to think positive…even at the risk of turning into her mother. Even this meditation malarkey seemed to be letting her in now too, itches and thoughts of midgets robbing old ladies had become a distant reality, and the blonde found that she could sometimes sit or lie down for at least five minutes without letting anything disturb her.

It was just a shame that that wasn't so true of now, as the relaxed blonde made out something wet and warm brushing against her folded knee. Eyes jumping open, she quickly uncrossed her legs and sprang up from the lounge floor.

"Do you want me to make a wig out of you?" She impetuously snapped at Bimbims.

The chocolate coloured dog, sprinkled with something white, sat and began to weep at the blonde's spiteful tongue. Naomi thought he looked entirely too human in that moment, as though the hurt drooping his eyes could only be valid if it was coming from a human. She let her hand hover above his rising and falling brunette back, eventually stroking him slowly. "I'm sorry." She whispered. "But this meditation thingy is difficult, and before I die, I _will_ nail it…I" She ran a stressed hand through her hair, and sighed. "I have to. Do you understand?"

The quiet exchange of words from human to dog seemed to do the trick because Bimbims was up on all fours again, something about the way he was swaggering over to the back door making Naomi think that he was trying to show her something.

Careful not to crush the dog with her step, she opened the back door and gulped at what she saw…

It suddenly dawned on her that this was the first time she'd ever seen Emily meditating, and what a first it was. The redhead looked unreal, preserved even, as she sat cross-legged in the freezing snow with her eyes closed, nothing but a tank top and some boxers on. She called the image of a porcelain doll to Naomi's mind. The blonde had always agreed with her mother's opinion: Emily _was_ pretty. She'd thought that since the moment they'd met, but watching the peace and stillness in the scarlet haired woman's face even in the adversity of the snow's merciless bite, Naomi's brain could only come up with the word beautiful.

The whole thing was just fucking beautiful.

She barely managed to notice Bimbims look up at her, as if he just couldn't miss her awe-struck reaction. She reluctantly let the jingling of his collar bring her sight away from Emily to rest on him and she smiled, saying. "Thank you."

Then like a dismissed child unleashing from a classroom, Bimbims took off into the back garden to frolic in the snow. Naomi watched closely. She watched for the noise from the dog's collar to bring Emily out of herself, watched for the chill, which was already starting to nip at the blonde's arms, to bully the redhead into the house.

She remained waiting, repeatedly questioning how Emily was doing what she was doing, when she herself could only manage five minutes of focused meditation in a nice warm, quiet room. It was baffling, and with those thoughts of inexplicability came thoughts of the redhead's health. Surely it wasn't safe to be sat out in the snow with next to nothing on for such a long time.

"Emily!" Naomi blurted.

"Hmm?" Emily replied, eyes still closed.

"It's fucking freezing out here. You'll catch your death, and frankly I need you around to help finance this house."

Emily's entire mouth widened with a massive grin, a small chuckle tumbling from her. "What are you talking about Naomi? I'm in the sunniest place in the world right now, getting a bit of a tan although they don't suit me, whilst the beach barmaid prepares my cocktail. I asked her for a sex on the beach a couple of minutes ago. I can't wait until it gets here; I'm parched with how warm the sun is."

Naomi frowned and then glanced at Bimbims, who was apparently building snow kennels.

She was on her own.

"But…we're in Bristol, and it's…snowing."

"Bristol? Never heard of it." Emily said.

"Am I…missing something here?"

"Thanks for the cocktail. Here's a tip. Least I could do since you're treating us guests to a view of that gorgeous bikini." The redhead said, seemingly flirting with whoever she was speaking to.

Naomi stood in the doorway not knowing what to do. She didn't understand what Emily was going on about, and the cross-legged woman didn't look like she was about to come up out of her trance-like state any time soon. "O-k then. I'll leave you to it." Announced Naomi.

"No, it's fine. I've finished my cocktail now." She heard from behind her, and when she turned around Emily's eyes were open. Naomi almost dropped from the step at the sight of them. They were undeniably fresher and a deeper brown than the blonde had ever witnessed. Even projected the image of being rounder and larger. She watched Emily cautiously rise up from the snow, shake her limbs for circulation purposes and dust away any snow still clinging to her body as best she could.

"W-what cocktail?" Naomi felt the need to ask. Felt like it was the key to getting the answers she so desired from the mysteriously acting lodger.

Ushering her dog towards the door and inside, Emily walked towards Naomi, stopping just in front of her with a smile.

"How were you able to sit in the snow like that?" Naomi asked, awe radiating from her.

"At any given moment in time, things are reacting to the thoughts that you're thinking, including your body. So even though I was sat in snow, I'd conjured up the focus and belief that I was in some hot country being waited on by a hottie. The snow here couldn't reach me. I couldn't feel it."

Naomi grasped the concept…just barely, but she still didn't get it. It reminded her of those Chinese people off of those documentary channels, more specifically those old Chinese men who'd swing weights from their knobs and bend steel pipes by headbutting them. But why would anybody ever want to do such a thing?

"Why on earth would you do that?"

"To build up my capacity to be in the midst of one thing, and still be able to go somewhere else, somewhere I'd prefer instead." Was Emily answer, as though that would explain everything. She quickly learned she was getting nowhere with the static buzzing loudly in Naomi's murky eyes. "Ever noticed that those little annoying cuts that just seem to appear on your hand – or wherever – only start to hurt once you notice them?"

The blonde's hair rattled from side to side with her intrigued nod.

"Think about it Naomi. Think about how much power is in your focus and thoughts. Energy goes where attention flows."

"Soooo, what am I supposed to be taking from this conversation?"

Emily rolled her newly born vibrant eyes and paused for a second in what looked to Naomi like deep consideration. Finally, the redhead shrugged and said. "This is big and you're probably not ready to understand, hear or believe this, but…the thoughts that you think _literally_ shape the world that you experience."

Emily could tell she was right by the skepticism radiating off of the tall blonde; what she'd told Naomi was too big for her too digest. So she put it away for now. "It's ok Naomi."

An unpleasant feeling tore through Naomi then, felt like Emily was a teacher patting her on the head and telling her to piss off because she just wasn't getting it and they were tired of trying. The blonde wasn't going to have it, not when she'd gotten straight A's in school and college.

She grabbed Emily's wrist, perhaps a little too roughly, as the petite woman moved to walk into the house. They both stared at the contact for a moment, and with Emily's subtle grin, Naomi yanked her hand away as if singed. "N-no, it's not ok. I want to know what you're talking about." She said, the desperation marring the effervescent blue of Naomi's eyes serving to switch on a light in Emily's head.

Brown eyes squinted. "Why?"

"Because…"

"Because I spouted a few shiny sounding words about how the people in the world have to stop juggling everybody else's plate and just juggle their own? What, because I told you that I came to those conclusions through meditation? _Why_ Naomi?"

Naomi sensed that Emily was somewhat angry at her, and the very thought of it had her cowering inside and she didn't know why. She'd never ever seen a frown settle on the redhead's brow before, and staring at it now, it looked grossly out of place. It was, well…frightening, and she longed for that irritating, slightly unnerving, smirk that the girl in front of her always seemed to be wearing, to make a return.

"Because…"

"Stop treating this like it's some project you have to get to your professor by the end of the week." Emily cut her off. "You're defeating the whole purpose. You meditate to let go, and in letting go, you end up gaining a grip. You don't put pressure on yourself to meditate just to prove that you can do it, only to beat yourself into a hospital bed when you don't get something right away. This isn't an algebra equation. This is life Naomi; nobody's going to grade you on it. Chill out a little."

"How the hell am I supposed to chill out when my life is such shit at the moment?" Naomi blew up. "I'm 26 with no job, I've had to move a stranger into my home because I can't pay the fucking mortgage! I have no car, I sit in front of the bloody TV night and day, and I can't see any of that improving for the foreseeable future. So excuse me if I'm stressed, if I've latched onto to your spiritual mumbo jumbo with both hands, because I have _nothing_ else and I'm fucking scared!"

Emily wasted no time in leaning forward and bringing a tearful Naomi into her, and Bimbims suddenly appeared at their feet, nuzzling their legs, wanting to be included in the family embrace. "I know you're scared." Emily whispered, breath smoking past Naomi's cheek. "I know that's why you snap and scowl and push people away, but here's something for you Naomi: I'm not going to let you push me anywhere. Scowl and snap as much as you please; I understand that it's nothing personal. Hell, things have already started to improve for you, you have me don't you?" The redhead pulled back to chuckle at her self-inflating comment in hopes of shining some light-heartedness onto the sniveling, crimson-nosed blonde, but Naomi's gaze was as serious as a hammer to the head.

Emily trailed Naomi's gradual progression towards her with her chestnut orbs, letting them flicker between Naomi's blue's and slightly parted lips. She gulped when Naomi's eyes fell upon her own lips...

"Naomi, are you…sure thi –"

In a swift moment, Emily's fumbling lips were silenced by Naomi's. Soft and tentative was the blonde's dedication to the kiss, inexperienced and elementary was the rhythm of its short and then lingering trends.

When Naomi slowly pulled back, she was bewildered to see that much out-of-place frown sat across Emily's brows again.

"Why did you do that?" Emily asked, and it felt strange for Naomi to have Emily asking her something that she didn't already know the answer to. Something that only Naomi knew. That feeling of being quizzed and taught lessons wasn't there, and the leverage felt nice, but this wasn't the time to be lording power over the very vulnerable looking redhead, Naomi could tell.

She shrugged, deeply unaware as to why she'd just kissed Emily herself. She just knew that it had felt like the right thing to do at the time. Seemed undeniably apt…or simply: undeniable.

"Try for me." The redhead softly encouraged.

Naomi had no words, no explanation, no reason making itself distinct, so she just said. "Maybe it was my way of colouring outside of the lines."

"Oh."

**Review and tell me what you think please?**


	7. Chapter 7

**You guys never cease to amaze me with your words of praise and encouragement. I grinned like a retard at every single review alert, and favorite lol. In fact, my neighbor sent me a disapproving glance after I walked into a lamppost and still held my retarded grin, thanks to all of your comments. Oh well, screw him. He should get happy….or write a naomily story and get reviews and alerts lol**

**HappyAsIAm.x, don't mention it. it's no trouble to respond to your review hun : ) I don't really have any other accounts that I could give you. I don't really like social networking sites : ( But thank you for the love girl, I'm feeling the love and it's warm and beautiful : D**

**Vangohgurrl, you know about Noetic Science? : O Yeah so erm…which one us is buying the rings for our wedding? In fact, I'm in town right now; I could just pop to the jewelry shop. Would you like a diamond? Seriously, low of attraction is amazing. It's the actual way that the universe works and a lot of areas of my life have flourished from using it's principles. Are you familiar with Abraham Hicks?**

**Kickstarts, judge Judy would never speak to you again if she found out that you got her mistaken for Liza Minnelli lmao! Lucky for you, you don't need judge judy though. She's not cool enough to hang with us. : )**

**IMakespaxtch, It doesn't matter, I love hearing you say it every time you review hun : )**

**Naailah, I love that you quoted Emily/me on tumblr lol. Spread the word sistah! **

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**Naomi was no stranger to guilt. She'd experienced it in its tenfold when, as wing Governor, she'd had to haul in the families of the three dead girls who'd committed suicide, and explain each death. It'd been excruciating, being glared at like she'd been the one to murder those girls, accusing glares, reproachful glares.

Well it was back, the guilt, only those glares were not glares at all. They were warm smiles and understanding chocolate brown eyes….which of course made her feel ten times worse than any glare could have. Naomi would've preferred the glares. She felt she deserved them after dimming Emily's eyes with disappointment the moment she'd said. "_Maybe it was my way of colouring outside of the lines_."

"_Oh_." _Emily had muttered, lowering her head for a second before quickly shaking it and looking back up at Naomi with a smile that didn't quite shine like the others._

"_Wait, that came out wrong."_

_After a long moment of staring at the blatantly uncomfortable blonde, Emily shrugged and smiled again. "Don't worry about it."_

"_I-I actually don't know why I just kissed... I'm not ga –"_

_As if the redhead couldn't bear to hear Naomi say what she was about to, she cut her off, shaking her head in a trivializing fashion. "Don't worry about it, I understand. It was just one of those things that felt right in the moment. These things just happen sometimes don't they?" She said, almost like she was trying to coach the blonde into agreeing, with her slow and hypnotizing nod. Naomi had ended up nodding in what was an unsure concurrence, because she was sure that these sorts of things weren't just happening willy-nilly all over the world. She'd kissed her lodger…who was a woman._

_With Emily then leaving Naomi in the back garden to go inside, the blonde wasn't sure what had just shifted, just confident that something had. She was now going to have to live with the woman she'd just kissed, not knowing where either of them stood with regards to one another anymore_.

That feeling of being neither here nor there followed Naomi into the following day when she'd gone up to the attic to give Emily her mail, only to find that…Emily wasn't there.

The next few days followed the same trend, a pile of letters building on the redhead's bed.

And they were letters, Naomi had told herself, they were important. What if one had contained the last warning concerning an unpaid debt, or information from Emily's workplace?...Not that Naomi would've been walking up to the building neatly scrawled with '_The_ _Inspiration Retreat_ _Centre_' if she'd actually believed that, but she swiftly nudged that out of her mind as she somewhat nervously beat Emily's letters against her palm walking in.

The transparent and swirling glass doors seemed to scoop Naomi into them and draw her into a room packed with immaculate lines of crossed-legged people who seemed to be deep in meditation. She immediately drew in her breath and held it there as soon as her ears picked up on the silence. The kind of silence which always made you want to tiptoe. The kind of silence which was much too beautiful to trample on, even if those heavy feet belonged to a heavy breath. She stood there by the door looking around expectantly, only actually realizing that she'd been expecting someone to come and greet her when nobody did, and she noticed that there was a nifty little counter-like application built into the corner of the large hall, one which looked just perfect for housing some sort of receptionist.

It would seem to the blonde that incompetence was not something only rife in the prison service.

The letters she was punishing with her tight grip suddenly called her attention, must've been the way that they were whining whenever her nerves coerced her hands into scrunching them, and she too easily remembered what she was there for…whatever that was.

"Can I help you?" A sudden voice whispered.

Naomi felt her heart buck up against the roof of her mouth and then swallow back down again as the woman sat staring at her from a close bench, as though she'd always been there, gradually stood up.

"Anyone in particular that you're here to see?"

"Erm, Emily Fitch. Is she working today?" Answered Naomi, briefly waving the letters in front of this woman's eyes as if that was proof.

The lady positioned her two feet in a purposeful symmetry and slowly bowed before moving off to…grant Naomi's request for Emily? The blonde wasn't too sure; the lady who'd just curtsied or whatever, hadn't exactly made it clear. For all Naomi knew, the lady could've been swanning off to make herself a cup of tea, could've been sat in her office right now sipping a cup of tea, watching Naomi just standing there on a black and white monitor. She used such thoughts to justify her decision to weave it through the many people sat on the floor, all the way over to the door boasting a garden sign above it on the other side of the room.

By the time the man belonging to the fingers which she'd just trodden on opened his eyes and angrily nudged the guy next to him, Naomi was already experiencing the gentle hand of cool garden breeze on her face. It was nothing like the busy street she'd just walked along to get to '_The Inspiration Retreat Centre_,' nothing like the untidy front gardens she'd passed. This garden was an intimidating size for anybody's legs, big beautiful sculptures scattered calmingly throughout, grass vibrant and cut neat, benches positioned intelligently, and the rainbow of plants seemed to be infusing the air with a serene sweetness. Meditating here would be a peace of piss, Naomi thought, catching the soothing flow of the small fountain just to her right. To her left was a class of yoga students following an instructor's movements, every single one of them in sync. Naomi couldn't tear her eyes away, not when her fascination was bigger than her awareness that she was staring.

"Oh there she is!"

For a moment, Naomi looked to one of the sculptures to see if it had just spoken to her; this seemed a place where such a thing was possible. Of course better knowledge of the voice's origin came to light when she turned around to face the nearing footsteps and saw Emily walking towards her with the lady who'd greeted her in the hall about ten years **not** quick enough.

They were maybe two meters away when Naomi watched Emily tell the deeply frowning lady following closely that she'd handle it from here. Finally listening to the redhead, the lady glared at Naomi and then span around to storm back inside.

"Tosser!" Naomi said…**over** her breath, whilst she glared at the now empty doorway which led back into the building.

"Shh, no swearing – and what the France are you doing here?" Asked Emily.

Naomi couldn't work out where the redhead was on the emotional scale. Was she upset with her, annoyed? She couldn't tell, which resulted in blue eyes inspecting brown ones for quite a bit of time to the sound of the bushes gently pushing and shoving one another.

She eventually rolled her eyes and said. "You haven't been at the house in days and..." Her focus lost as she witnessed some brunette pass a hand across the lower of Emily's back whilst walking by, and then at the sight of Emily glancing back to smirk at this woman, the course of what Naomi had wanted to say changed its path. "Who's that?"

"Just one of the girls." The up and down movement of Emily's shoulders, as she shrugged, somehow seemed to highlight the fact that the petite redhead was wearing a baggy blank green t-shirt to Naomi's eyes.

Naomi disliked green. It'd been that way ever since Robert Moore had wiped something wet in her ear in middle school and then whispered. "I just put one of my slimiest greenies in your ear." He'd then grinned and flexed his nostrils at her to reveal the bat caves of crispy snot living in them before Naomi had promptly put her fist through his nose. Still, they'd ended up 'going out' with each other shortly after, and because of that mistake, he became the one to blame for a lot of the things the blonde now disliked.

She glanced down at the pieces of paper in her hand, and remembered that there was no need for her to be stood losing herself under the growing accumulation of questions that Emily was firing at her with those chocolate orbs. "Here." She said, hastily handing the letters over to Emily. "I just came by to give you these."

Waves of relief produced in Naomi as she watched Emily absently run her eyes over the letters and smirk big. "Thank you."

"Yeah well…I figured those letters could be important or…something."

Emily's smirk extended into a grin at that, and she stuffed her letters into the waist of her joggers. "You coming inside then?"

"I must've passed this place a million times before and not known what it was." Naomi admitted, riding her bag up more securely on her shoulder whilst she followed Emily into a small, intimate room, with candles lit intimately throughout. The only thing that's missing is rose petals, Naomi internally took the piss, until she remembered the small detail of having kissed Emily. Then it was the candles turn to jeer at her…at least now it felt that way.

Fluffing a few of the gigantic floor cushions like she was preparing for guests, and dropping both them and herself to the floor, Emily replied. "You miss a lot of things in life when you don't stop to appreciate the roses."

"Why haven't you been at the house?"

Naomi's abrupt question caused Emily to reach over and lower the volume of relaxing music flowing out of the speakers. She then sighed. "I'm not going to lie; since our kiss I've been finding things a little difficult." She shrugged to signal the end of her confession and let her chestnut orbs consume the high concentrations of panic filtering into Naomi's expression.

Naomi had thought Emily's recent absence may have been down to the kiss, but she hadn't actually thought that the redhead would admit it, and now because of her gross miscalculations she now had nothing to say, nothing to do but endure the painfully awkward atmosphere ensuing around her. She was sure that these rooms were not built for such discomfort.

Emily's neck longed as she looked up and gauged the fidgeting blonde's intense desires to flee, but still she went on anyway. "I was picturing you in the shower, imagining you doing things to me…" She leaned the back of her head against the wall, and slowly dragged her nails down the length of her own neck as if to busy them before they took to more desired tasks. "I was thinking about all of the things I wanted to do to you Naomi, and if I hadn't left you probably would've looked to your left in the middle of the night and found me lying next to you."

The heat coming off of the candles was a pleasant warmth, nowhere near hot enough to be responsible for the spectacles of shining water glimmering on Naomi's forehead. What the fuck was she supposed to say to that? She gulped so hard that the tissue in her throat almost said, "Fuck this; I'm going to work for somebody else."

"It's just hard to be around someone when you feel like that, knowing that you have such a strong attraction to them." Emily shrugged again, solemnly staring off. "I'm also kind of one of those people who has to go after what she wants regardless of the rules, so I just knew I had to get out of there for a couple of nights and steer my mind away from fucking you up the kitchen wall."

Pure filth danced off of Emily with the way that she then ran her sight up Naomi; in fact it was more filth than the blonde had glanced in those dirty mags, she was sure of it. And just like with the filth in those mags, Naomi didn't know what to do with it, so she just stood there, muscles stiffer than a teenage boy's erection, staring at Emily in disbelief and mind-halting panic. She just about managed to bob her tongue between her lips to provide them with some moisture, words sticking to the roof of her mouth and her tongue before a well achieved, "I-I…" Came out.

The candles wavered in the boom of laughter that then broke out of Emily. It was like an unleashed beast which had evidentially been locked up too long, and Naomi could've sworn she'd seen it leap at her and then disappear inches away from tearing out her throat. But it was ok now, because Emily had just been messing around; she could wipe the sweat from her forehead and relax…although the armpits of her shirt were far too soaked and smelly for any kind of backtracking by now.

"Fuck sake." She breathed out heavily and closed her eyes, though trying to get her heart to slow was proving very difficult with the infuriating sounds of Emily nearly choking on her own laughter just a few centimeters away.

Emily calmed to giggles. "You made it too easy, walking in here all nervous. We only shared a quick peck. Takes a little bit more than that to get me _that_ worked up Naomi."

It was a bit of a knock, Emily's last comment, because Naomi didn't take it in the way the redhead harmlessly intended, instead taking it to mean that her kissing skills were lacking and few. You probably are a shit kisser, Naomi chided herself for her inexperience. After all, she'd only ever been with one person. Only Robert, and look what kind of treatment her '_kissing_ _abilities'_ had earned from him.

This was also another instance where someone was laughing at her. The number one had laughed in the blonde's face when she'd proposed a new scheme to get the inmates to start using the library more. How had he put it? "Women and their farcical imaginations."

Robert had laughed in her face whilst stomping on her ribcage shortly after she'd told him it was over.

She wasn't going to put up with it. This Naomi, the rigid, inflexible, cold one didn't put up with people laughing at her, least of all smug, jumped-up little new-age brats like the one standing across from her still chuckling.

This was her problem with people. They were shits.

All of them.

"Naomi, that was just me joking." Emily stressed once discovering the darkness taking the scowling blonde over. "I'm sorry if I upset you."

"Go fuck a horse Emily." Naomi bit, scowl now demonic.

"But you'd rather I fucked you though wouldn't you Naomi – whoops, I forgot we're not supposed to talk about that out loud."

Emily watched Naomi's anger fizzle into a look of disgust. "God, what is the matter with you?" Naomi raised her voice. "So I kissed you the other night for comfort. I'm **not** gay. I **don't** want your filthy hands touching me. What is it with all of you gays thinking you can convert everyone? I find the thought of you anywhere near me repulsive, have we got that clear Emily?"

A few moments slinked by with nothing verbal exchanging, just the passing of messages through eyes. Wide blue's demanding some kind of concurrence, brown's telling blue's to reveal their true self, but to no avail…

Emily stood and quickly ate up the gap between herself and Naomi with a few swift steps, and as casual as the in and out of breathing, she caged the glaring blonde against the peaceful cream walls with the gentle pressure of her chest, and when Naomi did nothing to escape, Emily finally nodded and smirked. "Crystal clear."

Naomi decided to make the move to diminish her proximity with Emily then, but by then all secrets were out, and Emily let her arms fall naturally to their sides, backing away from Naomi with an easy smile. "You couldn't give a stuff about my letters." She said once she realized that Naomi wasn't going to run. "You came here to see why I hadn't been at the house in more or less a week, so I should probably tell you that I've been staying over at Shannon's. I would've called to say, only…I didn't."

Naomi narrowed her eyes at Emily and said. "Stop it."

"Stop what?"

"Just stop!"

"I'll stop when you start. No point in us both being stagnant is there?" Emily challenged, reaching to gently grasp Naomi's hand.

"I'm not gay." The blonde moved her hand out of reach.

Emily smiled, like it was amusing to her that she had to explain _everything_ to Naomi. "I don't care whether you're gay or not. Just be happy…although you know, they actually mean the same thing."

"You're not funny. You never are."

Acting as an indicator that she was ready to move on, Emily sighed long and drawn out, and disturbed the delicate equilibrium of the strap to Naomi's handbag, watching it fall to the soft mat. "Right then," She said, following the bag down to the floor and assuming the appropriate position. She smiled up at the bewildered blonde, softly patting the cushion beside her. "I think we're both in need of some meditation after that, don't you?"

**Review and tell me what you think please?**


	8. Chapter 8

**You guys must get bored of me droning on about how grateful I am to receive your comments, but I am grateful for them, so I feel like I have to say it. Thank you!**

**ImagineAlex, I really liked your insight into what is happening between Naomi and Emily. And you're more than welcome; I'm enjoying putting this story out, so I'm ecstatic that you're finding it an enjoyable read : )**

**iMakespaxtch, here's an update for you now lol, an extra long one :D Oh and have a fabulous time on your holidays hun!**

**Vangoggurrl, you know I was able to slot every line of those lyrics in with my Emily, and quite easily. I will have to give that song a listen. I really like those lyrics. Also, I find it fascinating that this story is following you about your everyday life like that. It's flattering : ) You're not a nerd, and if you were one so what. Nerds are the real cool ones : ) And fire opal it is :D**

**Me, I'm not going to defend my Emily or even explain her behavior; I'm just going to let the story speak for itself : ) **

**Kickstarts, don't sweat it. Review if and whenever you feel inspired to :D You can take whatever quotes you'd like from this story, but if you make it big, just remember my phone number lmao!**

**This chapter is a little bit longer. I thought I'd give you guys a longer one because I'm probably not going to be able to update for the next week or so : ( Though I will try my hardest to get the next update out to you as soon as possible.**

* * *

Naomi had come to the conclusion that she owed Emily an apology for the kiss, one which wasn't blurred with the shock of it just having happened. One which was backed up by a solid explanation. One which would allow for the blonde to move on from it and stop dwelling. And Naomi could do that if she wanted to now, because Emily had started staying at the house again, and right now Naomi knew the redhead would be just getting ready to pop down and make herself a hot drink, since it was 10.20pm…only Naomi had already made her one.

A tray filled with a tub of biscuits and a glass of hot chocolate balanced on Naomi's palm, her other hand tentatively dancing over the wood of the attic door. She took a deep breath. "Just knock and walk in you pussy; worked with bloody murderers and cons for how many years, yet you can't face this?" Her shaky whisper then quickly died out to her ears as sounds from inside of the attic volumized. These sounds were muffled at first, but once Naomi gently pressed an ear against the door, gasps, pants, and the odd moan became crystal clear. She almost dropped the tray pulling her ear away, a feverish crimson colouring her neck and chest area. Maybe if I knock loud and firm, Naomi thought, Emily will press stop on whatever trash she's got spinning in that DVD player, and pull her hand out of her knickers. She would've gone away, Naomi would've, if it hadn't been for fear of losing her nerve; she felt she had to do this _now_, so following her own internal advice, she rattled a ferocious fist at the wood, watching it tremor. But the panting only seemed to grow raspier, the gasping exasperating. Naomi rolled her eyes and repeated her actions of seconds ago, except this time the door slowly swung open at her ferocious fist, revealing the sight of Emily; eyes closed, mouth wavering between open and closed…hand slowly working away beneath the covers of her bed.

The tray surely crashed to the floor then. To the very same floorboards Naomi had sanded herself in preparation for the redhead's arrival, and if she'd had any brain cells at all, she would've gotten a more secure fucking door fitted too. One which didn't give way to a little knocking for Christ sake. She dumbly looked down at the chocolate liquid racing along the lines of the floorboards, and when she glanced up a different brown entirely was waiting for her.

Emily was grinning, bottom lip riding impishly in between her teeth. "You need to be more careful Naomi."

The blonde couldn't look at that expression for much longer, so she made a hasty drop to her knees, fingers collecting the pieces of broken glass, the goal: to get out of there as fast as possible. Unfortunately for her, she hadn't thought of the possibility that Emily would join her on the floor.

"Hey, hey, careful." Emily cautioned from her new crouching position, "You don't want to cut yourself."

Naomi could feel Emily, could feel Emily's gaze on her as she collected each shard of glass and placed it into the tray. It felt like her skin was prickling, like she'd spent far too long under one of those tanning beds. She never dared to meet the scarlet haired woman's gaze once, just concentrated on fixing the mess, because she knew she'd see that smirk if she did, and she wasn't sure she could handle that right now.

"I'm just gonna go." The relieved blonde announced once the worst of the mess was cleared, and she had plans to brisk it to the door, but the hand circling her wrist apparently had other ideas. She looked at it and couldn't stop her mind from considering where it had just been; inside the warm, soft cotton of Emily's pants, and with those thoughts Naomi yanked her wrist back so hard that she was sure she'd brought Emily's hand back with it.

"What did you come up here for?" The scuffled-haired redhead probed, her inquisitive squint slightly diminishing the lust misting her irises. But even if all lust were to disappear from her irises, it was still thick in her silky deep voice, Naomi noticed.

Naomi looked at the tray, a broken mess, in her hand and shook her head. "Never mind…" She glanced at the door longingly and then turned back to brave Emily. "I've got to go."

"What are you feeling right now?" Emily's squint deepened, as though she was trying to get into Naomi's head but something was restricting her.

Naomi rolled her eyes and sighed, stealing another glance at the doorway calling her. "Emily, I'm tired. That's what I'm feeling."

The oversized t-shirt hanging off of the redhead's petite frame swayed slightly in the breeze, as she waltzed over to the door and gently closed it in. She almost heard Naomi's heart break with its clicking in the lock.

"You interrupted me; I was close." She smirked, leaning up against the closed door.

"Just let me out." Naomi replied, stern.

"What did you come up here for?" Emily asked again, this time beginning to walk towards the blonde standing in the middle of the room, and with every step that Emily took towards her, Naomi felt an invisible force pushing her backwards. Eventually the back of her knees hit the bed and she sat with a bounce, staring up at the blatantly aroused redhead towering over her.

"Emily." She warned through a hard gulp.

Emily gently alleviated Naomi's hand of the tray and placed it on the floor. "You came up here because..?"

"Fuck sake, I just wanted to apologize properly for kissing you and then using the excuse that I'd done it because it was my way of colouring outside of the lines, when in reality I kissed you because…" Naomi peered off, cursing her thoughts which seemed to have rejumbled on the matter whilst she hadn't been looking. "Because…"

Naomi's ability to speak dried up and died as Emily, very sensually, mounted her, sitting on the blonde's lap facing the her, like it was the most natural thing in the world. "Because you, I don't know, wanted to?" Emily leaned close, breathing each word into the skin just below Naomi's ear.

She could feel everything, Naomi could, despite shock doing its best to numb her, despite shock keeping her entire body still. She could feel the fabric from Emily's boxers frictioning against her jeans whilst Emily swung her feet inches from the ground like she was on a swing at the park. She could feel the subtle but very definite in and out of Emily's fabric-covered stomach against her own. It was the closest she'd been to another human being in ten years, and Emily was a woman.

"E-E-Emily?" She stuttered out of a very dry mouth, finally regaining use of her limbs enough to slip her palm into the tight space between them, and place it to the chest of the woman currently running her button nose up and down her neck.

"Hmm?"

Naomi was barely aware that it was her turn to respond, what with Emily's supple lips pressing gentle, calculated, kisses to the one side of her neck. She'd taken to studying the rafters of the attic, it's intricate patterns…anything to stop herself from sinking in the warm swirls of scarlet currently steering the wheels of her mind. And her little tactic had worked…for all of a nanosecond, before her blue's began fighting to stay open at the new sensation of the teeth sensually grazing the shape of her jaw. "Fuck." She quietly squealed, instantly earning a swirl from Emily's warm tongue for it. They batted then; her eyes did, fluttered like the wings of a beautiful, blossoming, butterfly and all thought of what a rafter even was vanished from her brain.

A few seconds later, Emily pulled back and took in the blonde's face through her lusty chestnut gaze. Everything was covered in it. Lust. The sweat beginning to break on Naomi's forehead was enhanced by it, the look of anticipation colouring Naomi's features was accentuated by it, and with how worked up she was, Emily just couldn't control the lewd comment next to fall from her lips: "If I slip my hand down your jeans right now, tell me I'm not gonna see you glistening on my fingers when I withdraw it."

It was too much, too big of a push for someone who hadn't done this sort of thing in so long that she was considering herself a virgin again. Too big of a push for Naomi.

"I can't do this." She said, not sure why her eyes were now stinging.

"Are you ok?" Emily frowned in concern and then immediately eased herself off of Naomi.

Emily didn't get her answer, for Naomi was out of that attic faster than you one ever could've said yes, or no…

* * *

Emily Fitch had never had a woman run from her. Women had run into her, run after her…run for president of the debate team just to get her attention, but never had a woman run from her, and never in the fashion in which Naomi had last night. The redhead knew better than to have an aching ego; this was Naomi she was dealing with, and it was clear that whatever issues caused the blonde to flee last night, belonged to the blonde. Though Emily got rid of such thoughts, walking into the kitchen to see the scene of Naomi sat at the table staring vacantly at the wall opposite.

"Are you ok?" She tentatively asked from behind.

Naomi kept her trance with the wall for a moment longer, suddenly turning in her chair seconds later. "You were out of order."

Emily shrugged hopelessly, and said. "I'm attracted to you," as if that was the only explanation she had.

Naomi scoffed and turned back around. "Not even an ounce of remorse." She spat, this poor wall receiving the kick of it.

A steady walk around the table, and Emily was able to slip into the chair opposite of the blonde. "I'd be lying if I said that I was sorry for what happened, but I'm eternally sorry for upsetting you."

"The two go hand in hand!" Yelled Naomi.

"Not necessarily." Emily softly said, pausing to tuck some hair behind her ear whilst she thought. "Have you ever seen yourself in a mirror? You're beautiful. Beautiful in _every_ way possible." She said, squinting as though the vast amounts of beauty hurt to think about, and then she chuckled before saying, "I told you I get messy around gorgeous women. But yeah, you're amazing, anyone would be lucky to…" Her sentence trailed off, letting the silence say what she hadn't, and Naomi understood, but this was too intense. She was sat in her kitchen across from a woman who was telling her she found her attractive. That thought made her feel so many different things at once, one big indecipherable, intimidating, ball of emotions she had no clue how to deal with.

She had to get out of there…

Since she had no job to bury her emotions in, Naomi found herself upstairs, underneath the duvet of her bed, eyes closed. She'd decided that she was going to indulge in a few minutes of meditation in the hopes that it'd relieve her current feelings of overwhelment. Tongue relaxed against the roof of her mouth, she drew in a slow and long breath, making sure to inflate her diaphragm with it before just as slowly releasing. The repetition of the process soothed her partly, but those pesky anxieties were still louder than she cared for, so she took to the mantra technique she'd read about in one of the leaflets Emily had gotten for her.

One breath in.

_Garibaldi's_.

One breath out.

_Garibaldi's_.

One breath in.

_Garibaldi's_…_I'm_ _sure_ _I saw the last packet's wrapper in Emily's bin_.

One breath out.

_Emily_.

Emily found her attractive, had told her she was beautiful. Amazing.

One breath in.

_Emily's lips were so unbelievably soft against my neck_.

One shaky breath out.

_Stop this Naomi, don't go there_.

One controlled breath in…

_Emily's hand working away beneath those covers_.

…

Before Naomi knew it, she was slipping her own hand past the waistband of her panties, breathing ragged as she mimicked the slow circular motion she'd witnessed Emily's hand perform the night before…

The fact that she'd just soaked the cotton of her panties, and convulsed almost embarrassingly, whilst her eyes had rolled in the back of her head, over the woman downstairs, wasn't given the chance to sink in thanks to the steady knock now rapping on the door. She jumped up and ripped her hand from her pants, running a few fingers through her half flat blonde tresses, and stuttered, "Come in."

The door handle downed and the door swung open shortly after, Emily standing in the doorway with the phone to her ear. Naomi frowned watching the redhead cover the receiver with her hand.

"I'm booking a table for you and I at Chez Noelle tonight. What time's good for you?" Asked Emily, eliciting even more bewilderment from those azure orbs.

The ambush rendered Naomi still full of the stutters. "I-I, what? I'm not going to Chez Noelle with you tonight."

Emily blinked and put the phone back to her ear. "Excuse me, could you hold on a second please? Thank you." She then went back to covering the phone, and smiled somewhat sadly at Naomi. "Please? There are some things I want to say to you."

"Say them to me here."

"But…I kind of want to say them to you at Chez Noelle."

They stared at one another in sort of a stand-off, although the country western films would probably disagree that this would qualify for a stand-off; cheeky little smile eventually traveling from Emily to Naomi.

The blonde eventually shrugged and then shook her head. "I-I don't have the money even if I did want to go." A smug smile settled on her lips then, promptly knocked away by Emily's:

"I'm paying."

"Fuck sake." Naomi rolled her eyes in relent and huffily pulled the covers over her head.

Emily smiled wide, performing a small jig on the spot, and then returned the handset to her ear. "Yeah, can I book it for 6.30 please? Yes, thank you."

* * *

Chez Noelle was a nice empty when Naomi trotted in behind Emily towards their booked table, and that was great as far as the blonde was concerned, because despite knowing it was ridiculous to think this: Naomi didn't want anyone seeing her with the redhead. Didn't want anyone guessing what had gone on between them up in that attic and outside in their snow-blanketed back garden just by taking a glance at them.

The rose in the vase sat atop the table caught Emily's eye as they both took their seats. She leaned forward and delicately retrieved it, it's red as passionate as her hair. "Here." She said, offering it across the table with a playful smile, "For you."

Naomi gawped at it as though she didn't know what to do in such a situation, eventually snapping out of it with a slow and almost comedic shake of the head. "How did my life come to this?"

Emily chuckled to the point where she had to favor her aching stomach, and then dropped the rose back into its crystal vase. She watched it jingle about in the water for a while, giving her laughter some time to bate down, whilst Naomi picked up the menu.

A waiter stopped by just then, glancing between the two of them, his leer constant on Naomi. "Can I take the order of such beautiful ladies?" He asked.

Oblivious to the things that this waiter was doing to her in his head, Naomi replied. "I'll just have water please."

Emily ceased from smirking at the tent growing in the waiter's trousers and frowned at the woman sat across from her in disappointment. "You're not just going to have water babe."

Naomi flinched, physically flinched at Emily's wording, and glanced up at the waiter self-consciously, "What did I tell you about calling me that Emily?"

"I'm sorry." The redhead said, her blasé tone indicating nothing of the sort. "Now order your food."

Naomi screwed up her face at the fiery hared woman smiling at her and then turned to the waiter, smiling sweetly. "What's the _most_ expensive thing you have on the menu please? Whatever it is, I'll have it twice. Thank you."

However the sweetness in her smile drained as Emily smiled ever sweeter. "I don't mind pulling a few extra hours at the retreat. Order a bottle of wine too if you'd like Naoms."

Someone should invent a stomach you can detach, Naomi mused to herself, barely able to breath for how much food she'd consumed. In fact she was sure she was bordering on delirious, entire sketches of this removable stomach and how it would all work, playing out in her mind.

Emily elegantly brought her glass of white to her lips, gazing the blonde with a giggle shortly after. "Are you high on food Naomi?"

Naomi shrugged, too full to be arsed actually speaking.

"Well," Emily began, smile slowly falling from her features as she placed her glass to the table, still holding onto it's neck as if for support. "If you're high, it'll make the things I came here to say much easier then won't it?"

Naomi stiffened at the sudden solemn change in atmosphere, stiffened at the nervous manner in which Emily was holding onto the neck of her glass, because if _Emily_ was nervous then…what hope was there for anybody else? Her food-induced haze soon dissolved and behind it a very serious redhead was waiting for her.

"W-well say what you've got to say then." Naomi rushed, her own nerves making a nuisance of themselves.

"I wasn't joking." Emily said, looking directly into the blue eyes opposite. "I wasn't joking at the retreat the other day when I told you that things have changed for me since we kissed."

"Emily –"

"After it happened, I couldn't stop thinking about it, so I disappeared for a few days. I know it sounds bad, but I thought that maybe if I took out my '_frustrations'_ on Shannon, I'd be ok. But It's not ok…I'm not ok."

Naomi remained staring into Emily's eyes, willing them to turn playful, willing those lips that'd made her feel beautiful up in the attic to twitch up into a smirk, laughter following. It took all of a second for her to realize that she'd be forever waiting for such a reality to play out. It was her turn to say something back; the silence was demanding it of her. _Say something, anything_, it kept whispering. _What the fuck do I say?_ She'd think back, all whilst Emily eyed her with a scientist's scrutiny. Then something safe and familiar came to her.

"I'm not gay."

Emily's eyes fell closed as she heard that, and she sighed before saying, "Are you sure you can tell me that you haven't thought about that kiss over and over since it happened, and have it be the truth Naomi?"

Oh how the blonde had thought about that kiss. How she'd become anxious at night thinking about what it meant, how she'd berated herself for sending Emily away with it, how she'd had to repeatedly tell herself that she'd done it for the purpose of comfort. She'd been planning on repeating this process later on, only this time it would be about the shaky orgasm she'd given herself to thoughts of the redhead earlier.

As the silence prattled on, Emily ran through all of the different options she'd have should Naomi fail to own up to the truth, and the result was: "I'm not saying that I'm going to move out, I'm just saying I'm not sure I can handle –"

She was never allowed to finish that sentence, for as soon as Naomi heard the words 'move out', she filled with an inexplicable anger. "Go on then, piss off just because you can't have what you want, you child!"

"I'm not going to remain somewhere I'm uncomfortable. I won't do that to myself Naomi. If it makes me a child because I care about how I feel, then so be it."

Naomi scoffed; the last thing she wanted to hear right now was Emily's spiritual malarkey. "Whatever."

"Why are you getting so upset?" Asked Emily, squint inquisitive.

"Because you're irritating me, as per usual, why do you think?"

"I _think_ you haven't been able to stop thinking about kissing me since that day in the back garden."

The blonde scoffed again, offering nothing else, and Emily smiled, now seeming to've relaxed. Naomi didn't know which one unnerved her more: nervous Emily or smiling Emily. Taking her time, the redhead took a sip from her glass of wine and then placed it back down on the table, letting go of the glass's neck as if to say _ha, don't need you anymore_. "Tell me you haven't thought about it once."

"I haven't thought about it once." Naomi fired straight back.

"Now say that and mean it."

Naomi locked her arms across her chest, as though protecting the last of whatever it was she felt she was losing. She just sat there…and that's all she did.

"Naomi, I'm not asking you to say that you're gay or anything like that. I wouldn't ask you to commit to any label. I just want you to tell me the truth."

It was abrupt, the way that Naomi leaped across the table to snatch Emily's glass of wine and throw it down her own throat…She sighed and downcast her eyes like this was the most ashamed she'd ever been about anything. "I've thought about it...I think about it." She admitted, voice small.

Naomi expected Emily to get up and perform a small dance, quite surprised when the redhead also downcast her eyes in that moment, before lifting them. And when she did they were heavy with shame. "I'm really sorry for behaving like such a cunt at the retreat. I was feeling uncomfortable and a little frustrated with myself for letting you get under my skin as deeply as you have. I guess…I was struggling to handle it."

Naomi must've stared at Emily without blinking for a whole 30 seconds, in disbelief that _she_ could be the cause of such unsettlement in the usually centered redhead – that _she_ could get to the redhead in this way.

"Don't look at me like that." Said Emily.

Naomi blinked. "Like what?"

Emily eyes became dim and wistful. "Like I'm some angel who's just fallen from a cloud. I'm not perfect; I'm still growing in certain areas of my life just like everybody else. I have my outbursts and my fuck-ups, and my issues. I've dealt with a lot of them, but when new ones crop up you have to start from the beginning again. It's the process of expansion, Naomi. I'm human, and I participate in it just like everyone else."

Naomi used the silence then to take in just how vulnerable the woman before her actually looked.

"I wasn't…looking at you like that, and I know you fuck-up. How else would you explain that red hair?" Naomi attempted a tentative chuckle, feeling the need to placate Emily for the first time ever. It felt nice, if not all a bit scary at the same time, because everything was changing and there seemed to be nothing that Naomi could do to put the breaks on. The process of expansion, Naomi thought, in an attempt to soothe herself into just going with the flow.

**Review and tell me what you think please?**


	9. Chapter 9

**Firstly, I'm sorry to have kept you guys waiting a week for this update, but I'm back now : ) Thank you immensely for the reviews and story alerts. You just don't know how your encouragement helps! Hope you guys think that this chapter was worth the wait, because I'm a little iffy with it. Fingers crossed though : ) **

**ImageineAlex, Emily is a bit of a mystery isn't she? Lol. All will be revealed in due time hehehe**

**N0rmalsov3r8d, glad I've inspired you into thinking about meditation. When you do it right, life begins to transmogrify beautifully. Love that you're loving the fic so far!**

**I'm going to keep this short because I'm in a bit of a hurry guys. But…I LOVE YOU ALL! :D**

* * *

Naomi Campbell was completely and utterly baffled as she stood naked in the mirror. _This_, she thought, running a slow trace of fingers around her face, across her collarbone and down the valley between her breasts, _this is what Emily finds attractive_? Naomi wasn't ignorant to her beauty; she knew she was pretty, despite what Robert had repeatedly told her, but compared to the women that she'd seen her lodger taking up into the attic, she deemed herself _pretty_ average. So why would Emily want her when she could have the Eva Longoria's of Bristol? Why would Emily have let _her_ get under her skin as opposed to all those other girls? It wasn't making sense to the logical blonde; the dinner at Chez Noelle had just served to breed more questions than actual answers, and when she and Emily had gotten home that night nothing had felt different. Their situation hadn't felt expanded. It felt the same. Everything did. Emily was still walking around the house in next to nothing, the pile of ironing was still waiting for the blonde's steady hand, and she was still terrified, only soothed by the fact that nobody was able to tell that she was attracted to her scarlet haired lodger just by looking at her.

The process of expansion, Naomi thought. "What process of expansion?" She asked the silence of her bedroom, somewhat disappointed.

A matter of 15 minutes later, Naomi was dressed and descending the stairs, halting dead at the bottom step when she spotted a brunette sat on the couch next to Emily, jabbing the buttons of the remote control at the TV like she bloody owned the place. Naomi eyed this brunette good, the sculptures and flowers from the garden of the retreat suddenly playing background to this woman's face…_The brunette who ran her hand across Emily's back_, Naomi abruptly remembered.

"Morning sunshine." Emily gave a relaxed wave and smiled at the gawping blonde, but Naomi didn't return it. Couldn't, for her sight was drawn to the casual overlapping of this brunette's fingers and Emily's as porcelain hand and coffee-coloured hand rested side by side on the couch, and if Naomi had been able to sense anything past her ire in that moment, she would've heard the universe say, "_This_ process of expansion."

"Naoms, this is Mandy." Said Emily, the introduction cueing this Mandy into screwing her face into a smile and offering Naomi an antagonizing wave as she reached forward for the mug resting on the coffee table. A mug with three pigs on it.

Naomi's favorite mug.

"So you're Naomi then?" The dark-skinned girl asked over the mug, travelling the blonde up and down with anything but impressed eyes.

Naomi folded her arms across her chest and glared daggers at this intruder. "So you're the slut then?"

"Naomi!" Emily stepped in, her tone unmistakably admonishing. "Can I talk to you in the kitchen a sec?"

A spot of hurt spasmed in Naomi's chest then, because Emily seemed to be on this Mandy's side, seemed to be defending this stupid bitch, Mandy. But she didn't want to lose face in front of the dark-skinned woman – didn't want to lose anything else – and masked the damage done reasonably well by way of the collected stride she followed the redhead into the kitchen with.

The second the kitchen door clicked closed, Emily leaned against it, that ever so unpleasant frown casting a shadow over her features. "You can't just attack my guests." She said, before shrugging, "What's your problem with Mandy?"

"Mandy? Who's Mandy?" Naomi fabricated a frown, just as easily fabricating realization a mere second later. "Oooh, you mean that sardine-faced penis you've got sitting out there on our couch? _That_ Mandy?"

"Yeah, that Mandy." Emily simply went along; she wanted to get to the bottom of this. "What's your problem with her?"

You wouldn't think that Naomi had run an entire wing in a prison, wouldn't think she'd had to make important grown-up decisions regarding significant events in people's lives, wouldn't think she was 26 – not with what followed from her mouth next: "You've given her _**my**_ mug. It's mine."

Emily's face broke from the shackles of its frown and assisted her a chuckle. "Are you serious Naomi?"

"No, this is actually a hoax; the cameras are all about to come out in a minute."

Emily's hand rose to her lips to stifle a giggle, and as she calmed Naomi couldn't help but take notice of the perfect way in which those lips dropped their smile to relax. It was perfect, the way that the muscles contracted and eased to assist such a facial shift – but the blonde found that she didn't want to think about that, found that she _wanted_ to be annoyed. Felt like she should be because a stranger – a somewhat beautiful stranger, with long tanned legs and flowing black hair down to her bum – was sat in her lounge leaving DNA on the rim of her favorite mug, and that was a problem. A problem that Naomi was seemingly finding impossible to overlook.

"What would you like me to do Naoms, go in there, snatch the mug from her and say 'sorry Mandy, but my friend's a little territorial, so give me back her favorite mug and I'll poor your drink into this muddy but empty plant pot instead. Deal?'" Emily quipped.

Naomi considered it for a second, Mandy's lips out there slurping on her mug. Mandy's dribble oozing down the Pyrex and seeping over the big pig's flappy ear – Mandy's lips slurping on the skin of Emily's porcelain neck…Mandy's hand whispering across Emily's lower back.

It was settled in her mind there and then. She nodded once and smiled tight, "See, you've already got your speech planned out and everything, now go in there." She said, walking her fingers in mid-air. "And prize that mug away from her."

Emily didn't return the blonde's smile, not even a tight one. She wasn't interested in smiling; she was interested in getting Naomi to reveal the troublesome emotions which were so clearly simmering behind the scenes. So instead she softly said, "Are you going to trust me and tell me the truth Naomi?"

And Naomi knew exactly what the truth was. This wasn't like the kiss; there was no mud clouding the truth behind her actions this time. She _knew_, and that's when she came to admit that in fact nothing was the same. Nothing.

Naomi held her head in grimace, announcing: "I have to go." Before quickly dashing out of there.

* * *

"What do you think?" Gina asked, lifting the ugliest fucking cardigan that Naomi had ever seen up from the rack. The younger blonde would've told her mother that the piece of clothing looked like a rainbow had thrown up on it if it hadn't been for the more urgent issue at hand.

"Mum, did you not just hear what I said?"

Gina nodded and smiled, though her adoration lingered on this cardigan as she twirled it around to glance its back. "Of course dear: Emily brought one of her whores back to the house and gave her your favorite mug. You got jealous and had to restrain yourself from cracking said mug over whore's head – Isn't this cardigan nice love?"

Naomi tore the object of her mother's cheery smile from her hand, balling the garment up and tucking it away from Gina's eyes. "Exactly mum, seems you _did_ hear me, so how are you still smiling?"

"You're jealous." Gina replied, having taken on a more profound form of joy. "People only ever get jealous when they're _alive_, when they're living their lives enough to know that they _really_ want something or that they've got something worth not losing…or in this case someone. I've watched you for ten years, Naomi, my only child, walking around just because your organs haven't stopped working yet, and _this_ beautiful green-eyed monster," Gina pointed at each of her daughter's eyes, and hunched her shoulders, trembling as if she couldn't stand her own excitement. "Is the most alive I've seen you in ages. That's why I'm smiling, and it's why I'm going to continue smiling throughout the course of this day."

Naomi experienced a jolt of guilt; she hadn't realized how much stress she'd been loading her mother with over the years, just by being unhappy. Just by going through the motions of life. Gina was grateful for her daughter's jealousy – she wasn't shy about expressing it – and in that instant it suddenly occurred to Naomi that she should be too…because it was a considerable improvement to feeling nothing at all, and through all of her thoughts in that moment, she heard the universe say it loud and clear: "_This_ process of expansion."

With a sigh she unbunched the cardigan, gently beat out its wrinkles and handed it back to her mother. "Thanks mum."

"Anytime love." Gina smiled warm, before breaking it to glance at the many different racks of clothes surrounding them. "Now, I would like to buy Emily a little something for giving me some of my daughter back." The cardigan in the older woman's hand then suddenly flashed in the corner of her eye, and she smirked holding it up for Naomi's azure's to inspect a second time. "How do you think our little lodger would look in this?"

Naomi rolled her eyes and shook her head, the faintest chuckle emitting from her. "Do you want her to think you're punishing her? If so, then yes, she'd look _great_ in it."

Gina frowned. "Well I think it's quite nice." She again twirled the garment from front to back, baffling more and more with each passing second she spent admiring it. She blinked in the patters and colours of it one last time, noting how much work had gone into the design, before shrugging off her daughter's opinion. "And you say_ I_ have no fashion sense. Put it in the basket."

* * *

Bimbims raced to Naomi's feet as soon as she stepped through the front door, as if to indicate his distress over the fact that she hadn't said goodbye to him when she'd left earlier.

"He was groaning at the door for ages after you left so abruptly." The husky voice drew Naomi's blue's through the dark TV-lit lounge and over to the sofa, where they discovered Emily; hand serving as a pillow to her head, clothes few to just a thin grey tank top and some boxers. "Been anywhere fun?" The redhead asked, the deep texture in her tone playing up even more to Naomi's ears.

Naomi tried to stifle images of the _activities_ that Emily and her whore had probably gotten up to, in order to've brought on the husk which only ever seemed to attach itself to Emily's vocal chords when the scarlet haired woman was turned on, but to no avail. The images just got bigger, and filthier, and more vivid the longer she eyed her lodger. The longer she focused on the current display of porcelain legs resting against the dark leather of the sofa. The longer she studied Emily's crimson ponytail, which was as just-fucked-look as they come. Naomi's dismay expressed in the manner with which she took her fingers back from the dog's fur, and sighed. "Does it matter?" She replied, stepping past Bimbims for the stairs.

"Come sit with me for a little bit?"

Naomi's feet rooted in the carpet at the impossible silk textured within her lodger's eight-worded request, and blue crystal's momentarily fell shut, a sigh as if to prepare her for what was coming next breezing by her lips, before she gradually span to face Emily, whose kind smile eased and beckoned the blonde into her tentative walk towards the sofa.

"What do you want?" Naomi shrugged, the two-seater jigging the just sitting up redhead slightly as the blonde sat down.

No answer parted from Emily as the two women fell into studying one another's eyes. She instead gently reached for Naomi's trembling hand, slow with guiding it beneath the warm grey cotton of her tank top and stilling it at the smooth skin of her chest. She held it there, hand firm covering Naomi's, and said. "Would it baffle and surprise if I told you I've been thinking about _you_ all day?"

Naomi nearly missed the redhead's subliminal emphasis to the almost frightening sensation of Emily's heart thrashing beneath her palm – it's thunderous rhythm seeming to trivialize and mock the blonde's petty jealousy – but she just managed to catch it, crimson sweeping her neck and face as if to punish her for ever having been jealous of Mandy in the first place.

Emily smiled at the beads of sweat retreating back into Naomi's forehead, thought she'd help a few more vanish. "Mandy's just a girl I'm helping out at the retreat." She loosened Naomi's hand then and they both watched it fall out of the bottom of the now rumpled tank top, soft to hit the sofa. Naomi flexed its fingers and stared at it, as though her hand had been filled with something her body would need to adapt to.

"I also got Bim's to _thoroughly_ wash your mug…with his tongue...the same tongue he licks himself with." Quipped Emily, once she realized that Naomi wasn't at the place where she was going to acknowledge having been jealous to her. Her eyes then fell into a grimace in anticipation of the dead arm which she was sure she was about to receive.

To her surprise, Naomi raised her brows, slowly nodded and quipped back, "I don't give a fuck; out of a sardine-faced penis and a dog, I'd rather the dog's slobber."

That was a vicious and _disconnected_ thing to say, but in that moment Emily didn't give a care, because she was being gifted the experience of Naomi's smile.

* * *

**By the way, if you guys haven't checked out the fic 'Grenade' by Kickstarts, I STRONGLY suggest you do! It's FABU!**


	10. Chapter 10

**Another update. Just finished this so I hope it isn't full of suckiness lol. **

**Kickstarts, lmao, there is now a hole in my leg from where you kicked me. : *( I'm sorry you had to endure Mandy, but she got called a sardine-faced penis. Isn't it better to have her in it and get insulted rather than not have her in it at all? Think of the positive: someone you don't like got insulted :P hahaha. You can't take back a kick. There's already a hole in my leg, and you're welcome for the shout out hun : )**

**Vero, glad I had you lolling with the last chapter :D You're right, some issues do have to be resolved first before they get together. Loved your insight : )**

**CarolineUSA, I will have words with Naomi for ignoring Bim's. Hahahaha :P**

**Thank you to everyone who reviewed the last chap. I kind of thought it sucked. I feel a little better about this chapter though.**

**Ps: For anyone who enjoys good music, you should check out 'Blue Blood' by The Foals. What a fucking Tuuuunnnneeee! Lol. In fact their whole album pretty much owns all *nods* Yeah, so onto the chapter : )**

* * *

This was it, the very last straw. Naomi couldn't handle it anymore, the stench of the riff-raff up that job centre, the amount of time they kept her waiting before actually signing her bloody benefits book, the grease which always seemed to be _this_ close to dripping from the rank hair of that purple-jacketed lady, the forever worsening condemning gazes she was receiving from the people sat behind the desks as she turned up fortnight after fortnight…still jobless. Still claiming off of the state. Well this was it. Today was the last straw, because the grease which always seemed to be _this_ close to dripping from the rank hair of that purple-jacketed lady had actually dripped…and onto the blonde's shoulder.

"I'm fucking sick of this!" Naomi whirlwinded into the lounge, slamming the front door behind her.

As the entire house shook, Bimbims trembled and scurried down from Emily's lap to conceal himself behind the safety of the footstool, his frightened eyes peaking out at the blonde every few seconds as if to gauge whether she'd calmed down yet. As if to gauge whether it was safe to come back out. Naomi softened at the pitiful sight of the chocolate haired dog; she may not have liked the idea of living with an animal in the past but Bimbims had become her friend, someone who'd always listen to her and let her run her hands through his soft and calming fur…someone who'd climb aboard her duvet-wrapped body in the morning just after Emily would finish breakfast.

"Do you have a reason for why you've just scared the living muff off of Bim's?" Emily enquired over her shoulder, now down on all fours, in just a pair of knickers and a tank top, stroking her dog with loving reassurance.

Naomi sighed heavy and shrugged out of her coat, hardening again once getting a better look at the stain mocking her from its shoulder. Hardening at what that stain represented. She didn't bother to hang the coat up, just indignantly tossed it at the wall; it'd have to hook itself up. Both of her palms then flew to cup her face like they'd wanted to comfort her for ages, something about the warmth radiating from them serving to calm her slightly. She then abruptly dropped both hands and sighed again. "I can't take going to that piss palace every two weeks anymore, I can't take the greasy mongs who're always up there, I can't take being jobless, and I can't take the clown's pay that I'm currently getting." Naomi's blue's met the floor, the faded cream carpet receiving her small confession: "I _can't_ do this anymore."

Emily's ears picked up on it too, and she rose to her feet with the gift of a kind smile to offer to the blonde. "Then change it." She shrugged, as if it was that simple.

Naomi rolled her eyes. "Please don't exasperate this situation with your cheeriness Emily. I'm at breaking point here and who knows what casualties I'll leave in my wake if I snap."

Emily slipped a supportive hand into Naomi's, kind smile still intact. The blonde eyed the contact, not entirely sure how to feel about the tenderness of the gentle thumb tracing the back of her hand. Some days she felt she was growing used to her attraction to Emily, to her attraction to another woman, and other days…it simply felt iffy. She wasn't questioning which one she was leaning more towards today. Her 56th sigh of the day puffed out of her mouth. "I'm exhausted now, after going there."

Emily held up her free hand and made its fingers dance. "I can get the energy moving around your body with a stress relief massage if you'd like."

Upon hearing that, Naomi's eyes scratched the warmth circling in the brunette of Emily's orbs out and replaced it with the ever so familiar lust which had unnerved her so many times before. It caused her to suddenly rip her hand away from Emily's, this illusion did. "Oh great," Naomi half scoffed, half spat, "I'm upset and you're treating it as an opportunity to grope me. Just _leave_ me alone will you?"

Emily stared at Naomi for a long moment, eventually shrugging. "Ok then. Come on Bim's, let's leave Naoms alone for a while."

Watching Bimbims paw off into the kitchen and Emily head for the stairs, Naomi felt fault with her accusation. When she really thought about it, there had been no lust in the redhead's eyes; feelings of her own fear and frustration had tricked her into placing them there. Naomi winced at her fuck-up. "Emily, I'm sorry. I just..."

"Sit on the floor." Said Emily, on the heels of Naomi's fizzled words. Her finger pointed at the carpet with all the authority of a teacher and an obedient student, and Naomi _was_ obedient – even if reluctant about it – slowly dropping to the floor because, well, it was the least she could do after snapping. She looked up at Emily in anticipation of what would be coming, and received her next instruction: "Close your eyes." It was spoken softly, the husk in Emily's tone cushioning the ice that Naomi was convinced the redhead had intended. But again the blonde did as told, her other senses picking up on some noise and movement before a sweet scent and warmth seemed to settle a mere inch in front of her. Keep your eyes closed, Naomi repeated in her mind, mostly because she was terrified she'd open them to find Emily's lips inches from hers. Terrified that she'd capture them in her own...again.

Her thoughts died out on that matter as her face heated with the breath that then hit it, "Tell me what you want in a job, from start to finish. Describe it to me." It was Emily's voice, Emily's breath…Emily: "How do you want to be treated? Do you want a uniform? How does this job _feel_?"

There was definitely a tinge of lust present now, even if it wasn't direct; it was there, masquerading In Emily's words, stringing them together as she sexualized…profession?

"Tell me how it feels Naomi."

The blonde's dry mouth hung open, no words to show for it. This was hard. She'd never actually considered a job in this way before. She'd considered a job for the respect that she'd gain from passers by when they saw her in her suit, she'd considered a job for how much she was going to need to get by every month…she'd considered a job for revenge on abusive bastards like Robert. But never had she considered a job purely based on how it was going to make her feel. This, what Emily was asking her to do, was difficult, because Emily was asking her to do something she seldom ever did. Emily was asking her to consider herself, for once.

The concept seemed foreign for all of its simplicity. "I can't." Naomi finally said, frustrated at being beaten by something so basic.

"Of _course_ you can. You can do _**anything**_."

Naomi allowed Emily's passionate belief to guide her tongue into curling around a few words, although unsteady at first. "Erm…I erm, I want a job where I can be of use to others." She paused as if to seek the redhead's nod that she should carry on, before not receiving it and carrying on anyway. "Erm, a job that isn't too emotionally taxing."

"What's the opposite of emotionally taxing?" Emily interrupted.

"Erm…" Naomi gulped, feeling another gentle stroke of the redhead's breath against her face.

"Refreshing," Emily softly aided, "Life-giving, fulfilling." She listed them off. "Tell me what you _want_, _**not**_ what you don't want. Tell me how this perfect job feels."

Naomi pondered it, this perfect job. _How does it feel?_ She asked herself. Then as though someone somewhere was on her side, her mind began barraging with blissful scenarios of work.

"It feels…good." She said, a smile she'd thought her face would never see again, all of just two minutes ago, blossoming. Then there was no stopping her. "It's exciting and I'm passionate about it, eager and excited to think about it even when I return home. The money is good too, and the job is flexible. It feels…free." Blue eyes slowly opened on that note, the whole exercise somehow feeling like it'd reached it's climax, and when she blinked she discovered that Emily was indeed kneeled just an inch away…

The silence grew thicker and thicker the longer they kept up this non-verbal proximity, until Emily reached a finger forward and set it to feather from the bridge of Naomi's nose to its tip. "You're _so _beautiful when you smile." She whispered, like what she'd said would no longer be sacred if anyone else was to hear – even Naomi. "I could get used to hearing you talk about what you want."

The tickle that the scarlet haired woman's finger had just left at the tip of Naomi's nose became lost in the blonde's senses, the lips of her lodger demanding much more of her attention instead. "I…_want_ to kiss you." Naomi whispered back shakily, as she stalked the pair of lips that'd created magic against her neck in up in the attic. As she stalked the pair of lips growing closer to her own.

That inch separating them shrunk to a mere two centimeters, and their distance held like that for a moment, Emily pausing to ask. "Are you sure this is what you want?"

Naomi thought about it, was she sure that this was what she wanted? And she knew what _this_ was. This wasn't just a kiss, she could tell that by the fire in Emily's desire-filled gaze. _This_ was going to entail allowing another person, not only to surpass her emotional walls, but to surpass her physical ones too. Physical ones she hadn't even known had grown so tall and out of control until Emily had straddled her in the attic. At the realization of all of this, Naomi suddenly spiraled into a panic, thoughts of inadequacy volumizing to rampant levels within her head.

"I haven't let anyone touch me in ten years." She admitted quietly, watching for Emily to be repulsed and critical, a sigh she didn't even know she'd been keeping releasing when she saw neither play-out in Emily's features, but just a smile. A warm, reassuring smile.

"Me being able to sit out in the snow is nothing compared to you having ten years of celibacy in you. I've always thought celibacy was an impossible feat; you're fucking amazing for being able to pull it off Naomi."

Naomi relaxed slightly at the playfulness of Emily's response, a very weak chuckle rippling through her to eventually settle in a small smile. "You make me want to break it, and that scares the shit out of me."

"Why?"

"Because you're you…because I'm me. I don't do this sort of thing. I –" Naomi cut herself off when she repeated that last part to herself. It sounded ridiculous even to her ears, but it was the only way she knew how to articulate what was going on behind all of this. "I'm supposed to lead my body, not let my body lead me. That's what separates us from those people who murder; we have some self-restraint. I don't want to lose that." She shrugged; that explanation job would have to do.

Although a reassuring smile remained perched upon Emily's lips, she couldn't believe what she was hearing. Sex being likened to an out of control murderer. Sex being made out to be that wrong, like it was something that needed to be contained and performed in a controlled manner. Turns out the smile on her face wasn't working for her, so she let it go and sat back, a soft: "Naoms, sexuality is beautiful. It's messy and sometimes frantic – it's an expression, like art on a canvas. It can be a blending of two beings. It's beautiful. It's the basis of all life."

"It's dirty." Naomi argued. "It can be dangerous. People don't like to talk openly about it."

Emily smirked at Naomi's determination to hold onto her fears. "You forgot that people are _also_ more comfortable with watching violence in movies than they are watching sex." She mock-helped the blonde's case, with a point proving giggle.

"Yeah well…I prefer to cuddle instead. Cuddling is... beautiful," Naomi said, as if the vigor with which she was nodding was going to convince anyone of the absolute rubbish coming out of her. "Y-you can become '_blended'_ with another person through cuddling."

After an intense moment or two of just staring at the uncomfortable woman in front of her, Emily said. "I'd cuddle you."

Naomi's eyes found everything which wasn't her redheaded lodger, as she stood up and patted herself off. "Yeah, well…I'm gonna go focus on this perfect job of mine or…something."

And with that, Emily was left kneeling in the middle of the living room, a grin spread wide across her face.

**Review and tell me what you think please?**


	11. Chapter 11

**I apologize for the wait you guys have had to endure for this chapter. Inspiration for this fic doesn't seem to be flowing as easily as it once used to : ( I must have written this chapter a million times. I'm finding myself second-guessing a lot of the phrasing, but I hope this chapter is ok for you guys anyway.**

**NoClarity, aww that was a very sweet comment ; )**

**HappyAsIAm.x, sorry to have prolonged the agony lol. Maybe I enjoy watching you squirm ; P**

**Kickstarts, yes, your reviews crack me up. Randomness in all of its glory. I adore the energy you seem to have. Whatever you're taking, assuming you're running on anything other than pure unadulterated happiness that is, can I have some please? Ps: I'm always right :P I should poke you for even questioning that lmao!**

**The Dark Slayer, I find it hilarious that you read this at work. I just hope you don't get nabbed and get into trouble because of me lol. Nice to her that you enjoyed it though. **

**Kolaps, I LOVE Eat, Pray, Love. Movie of the year in my opinion. Soundtrack's epic too. It's probably the most informative and helpful movie that anybody will see when it comes to life and the laws of the universe, yet up where I live it was at the cinemas for like two weeks tops. Government don't want people to know their true power, I suspect. I wasn't impressed. But I'm impressed with the fact that you're enjoying this fic.**

**GilmoreRos, thank you so much for your kind words :D**

**iMakesPaxtch, I was so glad to read your review and learn that you felt the passion that I was trying to convey in the last chapter. I had a sinking feeling that I hadn't quite gotten that across adequately, so thank you for…feeling it. *hugs***

**n0rmalsov3r8d****, I'm pretty sure this story would cuddle you back. I didn't raise no ignorant fic :P And maybe your ESP is…correct.**

**Niceoneblondie, please don't apologize hun. Review when and if you feel inspired to. Love that you're enjoying the ride!**

**Thank you to every single person who takes the time out to read this, or comment, or favorite and alert. It's appreciated. With the waves of light and love that I'm sending each and every one of you, let chapter 11 commence shall we?**

* * *

Everybody was watching her, Naomi was sure of it. Nobody was going about their everyday business anymore; they were watching her as she lifted what were slow and heavy feet towards the blue's, maroons, and deep reds of the lingerie section, she was convinced of it. It was a notion which caused her to pull the beak of her baseball cap down even further over her eyes, like a celebrity who didn't want to be recognized, because God forbid Mr. Mclair or any of those other bastards who used to have it in for her at Temshall see her. God forbid _anybody_ see her, because if they did they'd just know. They'd know of her reasons for being there – that she was gagging for sex off of her _female_ lodger. The very thought relentlessly rounded her brain, similarly to a chord around one's neck, so it shouldn't have been a surprise when a jarring pain actually shot throughout her skull a second later, her flinch sending her shoulder into collision with the silkiest of lilac bras. Naomi quickly dropped to the floor to pick it up, as though nobody would notice the shifty, baseball-cap-wearing blonde at the back of the store if she acted with haste. Her one hand drew to the back of her neck, accepting the job of anxiously rubbing at its nape, whilst her free hand returned this bra back to its hanger.

"Fuck sake." She sighed, imagining herself in the various designs of lingerie surrounding her, and feeling absolutely moronic. "What are you doing?"

Truthfully, she didn't really know what she was doing. It wasn't like she'd thought this out. The idea had sort of just occurred to her, earlier on in the day, whilst she'd been collecting 5-day-old cups and plates from the floorboards of the attic.

"_Fucking hell Emily, you're 25." Naomi whined, snatching up a few more beakers she hadn't even known were there. "If we get rats, I swear, I will feed you to th..." Her words derailed when she noticed the corner of an adult magazine peaking out from underneath of Emily's bed_. _The very sight of it seemed to hold all of the moisture in her mouth hostage as she bent to retrieve it, because, well…Emily, the woman she had this undeniable attraction towards, liked this sort of stuff, liked women like the half-naked one on the front cover of this magazine, and In that moment more so than ever, Naomi became painfully aware of the fact that she wasn't the lingerie-wearing woman who was bending over on the front cover of the mag – far from it actually. No, she was the boring, joggers-and-a-cardigan-to-bed-wearing…__**not**__ Emily's type, sort of woman._

_Stumbling upon this realization unlocked the gate for Naomi's anxieties to spiral out of control._

So, as a result, here she was, stood in the lingerie section of God knows what shop – something with 'whip' in its name – her fingers tentative against some of the softest silks she'd ever come across, her blue's a storm of self-critique and shame. She sighed, catching sight of herself in one of the store's mirrors. _You're a fucking mess_, she thought, staring herself in the eye with something akin to disbelief. And Naomi had need to be a mess with everything going on in her mind just recently; it wasn't easy living in a house with someone who made her want to close her eyes and let go of the steering wheel, even if it meant crashing the car. It was a challenge, more of a challenge than running L wing had been because at least there had been days off from Temshall. But with Emily it was relentless, that growing desire to just invite the redhead into her room for the night, into her bed, into her, becoming more and more impossible to ignore. But, of course, everything wasn't as black and white as that for Naomi. She knew she wanted to have sex with Emily…a lot, but what if she was shit? What if Emily got so bored during the act that she just…fell asleep or something? What if she froze? What if she looked shit in lingerie?

_What if I fall for her before I can catch myself_? Naomi asked herself, her fingers promptly dropping the material of the lilac silk bra that she hadn't even realized she'd still been thumbing. The emotional ambush to come from that very question froze her for a few seconds – anyone passing by would've diagnosed her with the shock of a loved one's death – before she eventually got her legs to obey the command to take her home.

* * *

The vague echo of a car door shutting outside clapped an awakening hand over Naomi's ear and stirred her from her slumber on the couch. She sluggishly glanced at the mahogany wall clock and raised her brows at how many hours she'd dozed away. It seemed like only minutes ago that she'd been stood in that awful store, surrounded by jeering bras and knickers telling her how pathetic she was. The chance to once again berate herself over that experience fell by the sidelines as the front door clicked and gradually swung open, Emily shuffling in with a warm smile.

"Someone looks gorgeous in all of their half-asleep glory." The redhead chirped, waving with a silly childishness whilst she closed the door and kicked free of her trainers. "You don't understand how glad I am to be home. It's been an, how can I put it?" She paused to consider it for a moment, the answer coming as she hung up her jacket and nodded. "Eventful day."

A lethargic noise parted from the blonde, something she hoped would quench Emily's need for a response.

She should've known that her lodger wouldn't please that easily…

The couch whined almost as loudly as Naomi did when Emily launched herself on top of the blonde. "Are you ignoring me mardy bum?" She husked, feeling the body beneath her wriggle each time she bounced up and down and poked her fingers into its ribs.

"S-stop…it." Naomi twisted and fidgeted under Emily throughout the assault, her rationale telling her to frown, the sensations plaguing her ribs forcing fits of giggles past her lips… The same lips she found herself trying to provide moisture to a mere second later when all the laughter had subsided, and it was just her and Emily, staring at each other in complete silence.

Emily was the first to shift, reaching a hand down to neaten the soft blonde strands which were fanned in a disorderly beauty against the cushions of the sofa. She was also the first to paint the silence with a thick husk. "Do anything interesting whilst I was at work?"

Naomi knew that Emily cared nothing about the incremental ins and outs of how her day had gone, she could see it. Emily just wanted to talk to her, wanted to reach closeness through meaningless chitchat, and that very fact wafted throughout the blonde like a warm, fuzzy, heater. Her appreciation was impossible to hide and boasted itself within her small smile up into the inquisitive hazel orbs peering down at her.

After some time, Emily grinned. "Naoms, are you actually going to answer me or are you just going to keep spoiling me with that smile of yours?"

Emily found herself not waiting for a response. Instead she just allowed her body to fall sideways into the tight space between Naomi and the back of the sofa. It was odd at first for Naomi to watch and feel feminine arms, as white as milk, thread through her own and clasp around her waist. That default reaction to just stiffen up arose, but with Emily's next remark, a chuckle bubbled in her stomach and somewhat relaxed her: "It's fucking freezing outside. I needed this cuddle."

The blonde scoffed, not fooled for a second. "You can sit in the snow and not so much as bat an eyelid, yet you need cuddles from ice queen Campbell to warm you up after having just come in from outside?"

"Ok, you caught me." Emily relented much too easily, the turbulence borne from her chuckle sending her nose into brushes with Naomi's neck, though the blonde would soon learn that the contact was no accident when the redhead cooed, "You smell fantastic," and wriggled to snuggle that little bit closer, before heating the back of Naomi's neck with a content sigh. "So, you should know that there have been times when I've been in bed at night…"

Upon hearing that, Naomi thought to interject, thought to swat Emily's sentence dead, because what if she couldn't handle what was about to follow from her lodger's lips? But for reasons unclear to her, she resolved to remain quiet, resolved to let Emily continue, almost as if testing herself. As for what she was testing, well, not even Naomi was sure of that.

"And I've imagined what it would be like to snuggle with you. It's easy to let my mind wonder what with you always being just downstairs, but yeah, this is a lot more fun than I ever could've envisioned." Emily let that sink into the silence, a silence which was prompting a reaction from the blonde with a firm demand, but what exactly was she supposed to say? Was she supposed to ask how many other women Emily had said these things to? Was she supposed swap her own bedtime stories and regale Emily with tales about how she'd spent the last few nights in hot sweats, with her fingers playing out blissful percussions deep inside of herself as she imagined the redhead's lips tracing various parts of her body? _I don't think so_, she thought, and with that very thought came the decision to put a stop to all of this _cuddling_.

Before Naomi had sent any instruction for her legs to move, Emily whispered. "Where are you off to?" like she'd somehow sensed that something had gone awry.

Naomi swung her legs out and planted her feet to the carpet, as though grounding herself. "Bed." She let that settle in the silence in an almost cruel fashion, not even turning to face the disappointed smile lingering in the features of the woman now lying alone in the couch.

Naomi closed her bedroom door, her azure's flushing shut as she rested her head against it. She relied heavily on its solidity to hold her up for a moment, the familiar surroundings of her room somewhat of a comfort. "Just relax." She muttered, frustrated with herself for letting overwhelment bully her into running once again. "Relax."

That train of thought saw the blonde beneath the covers of her bed a matter of minutes later, eyes closed, breathing slow and steady, and with each deep breath expelled, Naomi quickly began to notice the weight of her emotional rut lifting from her chest as much of her recent thoughts began to evaporate into nothingness. It was an odd thing, but their absence seemed to leave a space to be filled, and filled it was, with an undeniable inner monologue which appeared strangely, to the blonde, to be coming from a place outside of herself.

"_Fear is just an indicator as to where you are, a platform for which to embark to a new place. It's nothing to fear. It's something to acknowledge for the sole purpose of moving on from it, because to fear fear is to bring about more fear. Emily is punishingly beautiful, she stimulates your mind, she's vastly intelligent, much as you are, she's passionate, she keeps you on your toes, she's endlessly enthralled by you, she's endlessly enthralled by you, she's endlessly enthralled by you…"_

Naomi found that just by holding the desire to oppose this inaudible inner influence, it ceased. Evaporated just like that. She listened, or rather _felt_ for it a second time but…nothing. Her eyes slowly lifted, and she took enquiring fingers to her frowning forehead, as if the action was going to help her out with the information she appeared to've just received. She couldn't even remember it now, just seconds later. The information was behaving like one of those elusive dreams; so vivid and precise one moment and hazy and forgotten the next. But somehow the overall feeling that the kind, loving, soothing, encouraging words had conjured within her, had left her feeling lighter and more aware, everything sharper.

The drawer beside her, a drawer she hadn't thought to look in for years, suddenly sprung to mind with a blissful sprightliness, and simply feeling inspired to, she gently lifted from the mattress with respect for her relaxed muscles, and reached over to pull open this drawer. The impossibly soft golden silk belonging to the nightdress inside made love to Naomi's fingertips as she lifted it up in the air and watched it unfold like a scroll.

"How long have you been hiding in here?" She whispered at the garment, the moment feeling much too special to trample on with fullness of voice.

The next logical step lit up in the form of the inner wool of her joggers beginning to itch at her legs. They were discarded on the bedroom floor within seconds, her cardigan falling away to the same fate. She then carefully slipped into the luxury of this nightdress, letting the full-length mirror of her wardrobe capture her image and play it back to her with a sparkle she'd never seen from it before. And what an image she was: hips which resembled perfection as the fields of gold material fell past them, just stopping a few inches above her knees. A vast improvement from the unrecognizable state she'd looked in that store earlier. For the first time in ten years, Naomi Campbell felt presentable sexually, and it had nothing to do with what anybody else thought, had nothing to do with anybody else's approval because she'd given herself the approval. Naomi now understood that it had everything to do with her and how she'd felt – understood that she'd had the power the entire time. It seemed rather ridiculous to her when she pondered it; all she'd done was throw on a silk nightdress, but she actually felt like she could do this, actually _felt_ like she could walk down those stairs and give herself to the woman she'd just ran from…

Her long legs were strong and confident as they conquered each step down the stairs, remaining that way over the cream carpet of the lounge to the doorway of the kitchen, where her eyes joyously rode the wondrous shapes of her lodger's body. That's when the hiss of those doubts and self-criticisms began to act up again, but now Naomi found that she could brush them to the side, to a less accessible part of her brain, quite easily. More easily than she'd ever been able to in the past. It was almost like through clearing out her mind, she was now able to rearrange the furniture in it to her liking, though that analogy was completely lost to the sound of Emily dropping a spoon into what had to be her nightly mug of hot chocolate. It registered as a claxon to Naomi's ears, her cue to take a few steps towards the oblivious redhead.

…

"Emily."

A quick glance over her shoulder and Emily's hazel's fell upon the goddess behind her…The mug of hot chocolate that she'd been so intent on devouring became a third-class priority as the growing inner black of her hazel's swallowed the casual tussle of blonde hair falling with effortless beauty from Naomi's head, and the graceful way with which the skimpy silk nightdress hung and embraced the tall blonde in every definition of the word perfect.

"Fucking hell." She muttered huskily, with a hard gulp.

Naomi chuckled, only a faint one and only once, the anticipation rising within her casting far too much dominance over the humor in the dumbstruck expression on Emily's face.

_Fuck that magazine, I __**am**__ her type_, Naomi told herself, and like it was the most natural thing in the world to her, she rose her two hands and ran them up the sides of Emily's face, kissing her…hard. The sheer turbulence and velocity of it took Emily by surprise; her legs had not been prepared for such passion, and buckled momentarily, saucepans about the worktop ringing echoes throughout the small kitchen as the two stumbled. But that didn't deter Naomi's hunger. If anything it motivated it, the hand that she'd laced through the velvet trills of Emily's crimson locks bringing more of the redhead's tongue into her mouth with the more pressure she exerted on the back of Emily's head.

Emily's senses buzzed, hummed and trembled. She had not been expecting this. Of course she'd known it was coming but she hadn't been expecting…_this_. She'd expected that they'd go slowly their first time, expected that they'd treat each other like delicate china, expected that she'd have to go slow and hold off on the accelerator of her lust. The same accelerator which, in the past, had seen her lift women over her shoulder and shove them down to the bed. But…Naomi wasn't treating her like delicate china. In fact, Naomi had her pressed so hard into the kitchen counter that a pain was occurring in the redhead's lower back. A pain which was worth every second in Emily's estimation. She smirked into their kiss, sucking on Naomi's bottom lip, pulling on it as she then slowly leaned out of it to the image of dark hooded blue eyes.

And that was it.

"I'm going to reduce you to a shaking mess." Emily hissed next to Naomi's ear, or at least it sounded like a hiss to the blonde, but before she had time to process the pure filth coating Emily's 'threat', she was being walked backwards and hoisted atop of the table in the middle of the room. The legs of it did a hiss of their own against the hard floor as Emily grabbed Naomi's wrists and pinned them to the table's beige wood, so that she could quench her unrelenting need to carry her tongue up the length of the blonde's smooth armpit.

Overwhelming amounts of pleasure sketched a grimace into Naomi's features at the amount of want theming in Emily's actions. "Fuck." She rasped.

"I'll do more than that." Emily told the skin of Naomi's neck, causing the blonde to shudder.

"Fuck." Naomi's mouth spilled once more. It was the only thing that she seemed to be able to articulate, the sensation of Emily then climbing the table and kneeling between her legs inspiring her to wrap those long legs loosely around the redhead's petite waist. But the moment she peered up into Emily's eyes, things seemed to slow in momentum, almost as though slowing to give her a chance to perfect every little thing with regards to this experience, as though something wanted her to remember it as deliciously perfect, and as it went, Naomi did have a request.

Through accelerated breathing, she let it be known. "Take me upstairs Emily."


	12. Chapter 12

**I was quite literally blown away with the comments I received for the previous chapter. When I wrote it, I didn't think it was anywhere near as 'hot' as most of you guys told me it was. I wrote the last chapter a million times, each time exasperating more and more, until I just let go and let the piece be what it was. So I am ecstatic that it was met with the emphatic reception that it got.**

**Vangohgurrl, I didn't know I was being mean. Promise ; )**

**iMakesPaxtch, don't apologize for the rambling hun. I like to read it lol, and I hope you have returned from the land of mush safely : )**

**Lovescott, i swear I wasn't trying to kill you with the last chapter hahaha. I didn't continue the chapter because I suck at writing sex scenes, and I was already iffy with the chapter, so I just…stopped. It may have been a little evil, though, looking back on it lol.**

**ThaDarkSlayer, I'm glad you had fun…btw, I loved the capitalized profanity in your review lol. It showed passion! ; )**

**HyperFitched, don't apologize love. Life can be hectic! I had to Google image 'powder keg' to find out what it was. At the age of 20, I feel like I should've already known what that was, but thank you for teaching me anyway *hugs* I love that you are vibing with this fic!**

**Imoan12, Awww, thank you for that comment. : ) It was awesome to read such encouragement hun. Hope you enjoy the following chapter too.**

**ImagineAlex, Well I had initially planned to have the chase, the conquer, and everything go down like fine china, but as I was writing it, it felt wrong, and it was giving me MAJOR writer's block. They say that when you have writer's block, it's an indication that the story and characters don't want to go in the direction that you're attempting to write. That was definitely true in this case. So I flipped it around and had Naomi be the one to grab life with two hands. The depiction of her growth wasn't going to happen any other way.**

**HappyAsIAm.x, it's always nice to make ppl smile. *hugs* They do say that smile stands for Start My Internal Love Engine. : )**

**UNF, I'm sorry, but I don't know where you can find an Emily like the one in this fic lol. Perhaps talk to a few scientists and ask them to cook you one up? :P**

**Kickstarts, Hey hun : ) I will punish you for not signing in…later. Condoms and sexy have never really been two ideas that go together in my mind, but I'm sure you rocked it out and totally made them mesh. Have a good time? You don't do drugs?**

**You should ; ) Everybody should.**

**Kinitawowi, Wow, thank you for such depth in your comment. You know, I wrestled with whether I was going to continue on from the last chapter, or not. I once read that sex scenes in stories shouldn't be written for the sake of a sex scene, otherwise they lose their magic – kind of like profanity if you're forever swearing. They should only be written and described to their fullest if the sex has a purpose to show developments in relationships and whatnot. Basically, I learned that gratuitous sex scenes were frowned upon, which I tried to apply to this story. The sex that is shown in this has a purpose…I would like to think lol. Plus, I hate writing sex scenes because sex is such a vivid, 5-sense act; you kind of have to be there. Words are kind of inadequate, and they are kind of a little bit of a disservice to it. So merely describing a sex scene is never good enough in my mind. You have to build up emotion surrounding it first, which is probably what you mean when calling it 'the art of seduction'?**

**With that said, thanks to each and every person reading this, commenting and alerting. Means a lot! :D**

**This isn't a particularly long. It's sort of just a filler in my mind, before I begin to address bigger things, I think, and i wanted to put _something _out. I hope you guys have a good time with this.**

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* * *

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The troublesome floorboards about the landing were seldom heard under the soft thud of Naomi's back hitting her bedroom door. In any other situation, she would've been crying out about how cold the wood against her back felt, but Emily was slowly drawing hungry but gentle nails up the back of her thighs and whispering sweet filth into her collarbone in-between hot-pressed kisses, making _everything_ hot. "God," She rasped out unevenly, the door's handle rattling as she fumbled blindly behind her back for it, a frown the only way her face knew to cope with the sensation of playing the meat between Emily's body and the door. Though her frown was in large contrast to the smirk growing into the redhead's lips as she slowly leaned away from Naomi, their eyes never ceasing to sear yet to be performed pleasures into one another, whilst Emily took another step back and lifted the hem of her shirt little by little. All on their own, Naomi's azure's broke from their unspoken contract with Emily's chestnuts and drifted to the new flesh on show, a slow and almost excruciating gulp trudging through the blonde's throat when the incredible porcelain of Emily's stomach revealed. She'd seen her lodger's stomach before, as well as various other parts of her body. She'd known that it was toned, she'd known that its shade was a pristine pale, but she'd never touched it. So almost in a trance, Naomi rose her slender fingers forward to correct that oh so _wrong_ wrong, but Emily was quick to intercept those fingers with her own, bringing them up to her smiling lips to pepper with gentle kisses. "Open your bedroom door." She said, in the lowest octave possible, letting the blonde's hand fall.

Naomi sighed, like she had to do _something_ to release some of the unbearable tension coiled up in the lower parts of her body before she combusted, and she closed her eyes for a second, her legs shaky at the hands of lust, as she reluctantly spun to open the door. With the soft creak of its hinges, she then heard the unmistakable sound of clothing gently heaping to the mahogany floor from behind, and within her arose the need to gulp once more.

"Don't turn back around." Husked the redhead's voice, causing Naomi's eyes to fall closed once more.

The unevenly-breathing blonde did as told though, the silence driving her anticipation to new levels, the anticipation of what Emily was doing behind her driving an almost uncomfortable amount of moisture to her already humming center. She wasn't sure how much more of this she could take, to the point where she felt she had to voice her concerns. "E-Emily…" She began, stopping when the sound of footsteps padding against the floorboards crept and rumbled closer.

"Shhhh," Warmed the back of her ivory shoulder followed by a small kiss, and glancing down Naomi watched two petite porcelain hands sliding over her golden-silk-covered hips. It felt natural, leaning into the body behind her when those porcelain hands gently tugged, somewhat of a gasp puffing from Naomi's lips as her bum fell snug into the arc of Emily's pelvic bones.

It was then that the realization hit the blonde square in the chest, evoking a flutter of the eyes: Emily _was_ naked and pressed firm up against her.

Eventually managing to get a handle on herself, Naomi was frantic with spinning in Emily's arms, her blue's filled with wonderment whilst they noted the erection wrinkles of Emily's flushed coral nipples, whilst they noted the sheer genius of another woman's naked body so close to her own…whilst they noted just how eye-achingly beautiful Emily was.

Her dry mouth afforded her one word and it was a quiet: "Jesus."

Emily smirked, and pulled Naomi even closer. "I thought I told you not to turn back around?"

Naomi just blinked, for it was just about the only thing her brain could handle in that moment. Her trance-like state was good though, allowing Emily to reach up and slip the thin straps of the blonde's nightdress away, its puddling to the floor seconds later almost nothing on the silence.

"God, you're perfect." The redhead whispered, smirk abandoned, her misty brunette orbs traversing the length of Naomi's long and bare frame. She sprinkled her fingers over the rising and falling bones of the blonde's ribcage and watched their rhythm increase slightly. "You're so soft." Emily whispered again, mostly to herself, like the texture of Naomi's skin was a wonder of the world – something that scientists were working to finding out more about.

Naomi peered down at the ghostly hand, watching as its fingers drew what felt like a language of absolute adoration around her bellybutton, and in that moment the wonderment that she saw in her lodger's eyes really amazed her. The fact that Emily could be as experienced as she was and still lose her mind over the contours of _her_ stomach was mind-blowing to her. And, in an entirely good way, Emily _was_ losing her mind. The evidence of that was clear for all to see, including the landing floorboards, when she carefully dropped her knees to them, feathering her nose and lips about the subtle abs of the blonde's ivory stomach. "I'm going to make love to you." She felt them quake beneath her tongue at that, as Naomi exhaled long and shakily.

"Fuck sake." The blonde released, repeatedly readjusting her ever-trembling clasp on the back of Emily's head. It was all encouragement in Emily's mind, not that she hadn't already decided that she was going to sink her teeth into the blonde's long and slender abdomen, because it was too soft and smooth for the redhead not to want to experience with her mouth. She was gentle in her biting at it, sinking only her front teeth into the supple flesh and pulling just enough to earn a more emphatic shudder from the muscles beneath, pulling just enough to frustrate Naomi into pulling her up to her feet so that they could throw their lips together, tongues performing mesmerizing tricks against one another, and for the second time that night, Naomi found herself being walked backwards…only this time it was towards her bed.

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Naomi lay wide awake, her pupils swollen in the disorienting dark. She couldn't see a damn thing, but that was jolly with her because she was still playing back every touch, kiss, and flick of the tongue that she and Emily had, just hours before, spoilt each other's bodies with. She almost couldn't believe that after ten years she'd broken her celibacy…for a woman.

Her smile had been dominating her face for the last hour, sparkling for the more in those moments where she would feel Emily snuggle in closer against her back, or tighten the embrace that she held around her. _That was a different plane entirely_, Naomi internally concluded, remembering how the deep rhythm of her initially timid fingers had caused Emily to slowly drag her nails down the length of her own neck; remembering how Emily's sweat-sheened chest had shuddered chaotically as she unraveled, whimpering a simple yet beautiful, "Naomi."

As for herself, well, she could only hoped that she'd peaked as breathtakingly as Emily had…though to ask her she would tell of literally just how _breathtaking_ it was. It was the way that Emily had looked at Naomi whilst slowly sealing her lips around her flustered clit, swirling her heated and experienced tongue against it thoroughly. Naomi hadn't been able to handle it for long, and as a result her fingers had stopped their gentle journeys through Emily's velvet locks, instead jittering up her own torso and grabbing at her own breast, as she threw her head back hard into the pillow, the flesh of her neck tight and strained with erratic breathing.

To this very moment, her body was still humming, and it would even more so every time she thought about the way that she and Emily had passionately rolled around in a warm tangle with the sheets, continuing to cherish one another with kisses even after.

_A different plane_, Naomi grinned half into her pillow. It had to've been, because what she'd just experienced wasn't the same plane where bills arrived through the letterbox, wasn't the same plane where humans killed other humans, wasn't the same plane which housed buildings for the sole purpose of imprisoning those who'd failed to adhere to society's rules, wasn't the same plane where words primarily defined language.

Yes, the experience had been mind-blowingly perfect…and with that realization Naomi's grin began to lose…because once one reaches the top of a mountain it's only ever downhill from there, isn't it?

With her mind having traded in its previous images of passion for fears and uncertainties, Naomi's eyes remained open until the beginnings of daylight began to funnel through the window to the left. By now she'd sort of shuffled in the bed so that she was facing the faintly wheezing woman beside her; she'd been watching Emily in the dark for hours and seen nothing, and it was funny because it was sort of a representation for how the blonde was beginning to feel. Yes, she'd had sex with Emily – she'd had inconceivably mind-blowing sex with Emily – but…what now? There was no denying it to herself; she felt a connection with the redhead. After what they'd just shared, how could she not? But what if Emily didn't feel the same way? After all, it wasn't the redhead that'd just lost her virginity for effectively the second time; there was no need for her to feel anything. What if tomorrow evening, Emily brought home another woman and flashed a smirk whilst taking said woman up to the attic?

Naomi reached out at the crimson splashes that she could make out with the little bit of light now coming in, and for the first time it made sense to her that Emily would have hair resembling fire...because fire burns if one's not careful with it.

**Review and tell me what you think please?**


	13. Chapter 13

**Hello everybody :D Once again, thank you endlessly for all of the love you guys show this fic, and apparently my writing skills, as a few of you have 'bigged' those up lol. Thank you for your insight into the world and characters that I've created in this fic also. It's nice to be able to share what goes in my mind, especially through my beloved Naomily, even if what I have to share should come with a Mature disclaimer :P Love that I got a few of you hot and bothered once more :D**

**On that note, chapter 13**

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Neither Naomi nor Emily had expected the soft, chocolate, fur belonging to Bimbims to be the first thing that their eyes would capture upon waking up – not that Naomi had really caught any sleep – but perched in the rumpled, white, duvet between the two of them he was, swapping glances between his scarlet haired companion and Naomi, as if to say, _'Well, well, well. What's going on here then?_'

It caused the two women to laugh, awakening to such bizarreness, but more so Emily, who rubbed sleep from her vision and answered his accusing gaze with: "Oh don't look at me like that Bim's; I've been telling you how gorgeous I've thought she was since we moved in."

The dog turned his sight then, and shone it on the blonde. It took her a few seconds to cotton onto what was happening, blame it on the unfamiliarity of being interrogated for gossip on her sex life by a _dog_, but when she did, she quickly cleared her throat and held her hands up, explaining through a slight chuckle, "Emily took advantage."

It then appeared as though Bimbims looked over at Emily and slowly shook his head, like he wasn't surprised, but nothing could be proven; he seemed to be satisfied with the information he'd gotten enough to leap down from the bed, his collar jingling with every step that took him out of the room.

"Your dog is strange." Naomi stated, in an attempt to keep her mind off of heavier stuff, off of the stuff she'd let plague her throughout the night.

"_Our_ dog is strange." The grinning redhead corrected, slow and soft with the kisses she began to litter Naomi's collarbone with. "You were incredible last night." She said in a lower tone as she reached for Naomi's hand and feathered her lips about it's fingers, murmuring, "I think I fell in love with your hands," Into them.

_I think I'm falling in love with you_, Naomi inwardly retorted through shudders not nearly as intense as the ones she'd experienced the night before, due to the current weight on her mind.

"What's on your mind, Naoms? Are we ok?" Asked Emily quite suddenly, that vulnerable expression cascading over her features, not that Naomi noticed it; not that Naomi could see _anything_ past her own fears in that moment. "Are we ok?" Emily repeated, once the silence grew too thick in her eardrum.

_Are you going to hurt me_, Is what Naomi really wanted to ask, but somehow, "So…what now?" Seemed more apt.

Emily eased into a smile. "I want us to be like this." She said, slipping her fingers into Naomi's and bringing their entwined hands up to her lips, before shrugging. "It just depends on what you want now, doesn't it?"

_I want you_, Naomi thought, though she let her lips do the talking as she leant over and pressed them to Emily's for a moment longer than average. Pulling back she sighed relief and scooted back down to the bed, expecting porcelain arms to slip around her waist – a sensation she was more than growing to adore – but when a chill nipped at parts of her body that should've been blanketed, the blonde glanced over her shoulder to see Emily just getting out of the bed.

"Where are you going?" She asked, almost panicked.

The mattress dipped and bounced with the redhead's chirpy knee-walk across it over to Naomi. She leaned down and returned the lingering kiss given to her seconds ago, whispering through a grin. "To make us breakfast. A _fine_ body like yours won't maintain on earth-shattering sex alone."

"I don't want breakfast. I want you to lay with me for a while."

So lay together is what they did, no words exchanging, only a subtle mix of touches, kisses and wondering hands…

"You were scared when we woke up this morning." It was an observation turned into a statement, because Naomi's ears were not picking up on any silent question mark on the end of that. Emily had said it like it was set in stone, fact, nothing to be added to it, and she was right to've put it like that, because the blonde _had_ been scared out of her skin. But Naomi didn't offer anything on the matter, just continued to lay there wrapped up in the redhead's warmth.

"Well, you should know I was a little bit scared too Naoms." Emily continued, realizing that the woman in her arms wasn't going to contribute. "I thought," She paused and then chuckled, the bed bouncing a little for it. "I thought that maybe you'd want me to leave."

"Of course I don't want you to leave, Emily." Said Naomi, the tone of it painting on the silence as a whine. She then sighed, finally ready to address Emily's earlier statement. "I haven't been vulnerable to this extent in ten years, and for good reason. I was bound to be a little panicked this morning."

"No, I completely understand." Replied the redhead, and then everything fell to silence, both women going inside of their own heads for a while, before Emily reintroduced words to the room. "Can I ask you something?"

Naomi ceased her studying of the lines adorning Emily's palm, nodding with a quiet. "Ask." Having given the green light, she felt the starting of soft patterns being scrawled out on her upper back; a sensation which, oddly enough, only seemed to cause more apprehension in her.

"How come it's been ten years since you've been with anyone?"

There it was. Naomi had been waiting for this question since the moment she'd let her decade of celibacy slip to the redhead, and here it was. Question is: Was she ready to talk about it?

…

Apparently she was. "His name was Robert." Naomi began quiet, unconscious to the fact that she was now constricting the hell out of Emily's hand with her own, but Emily took it, humming, "Mmmhmm," Into Naomi's shoulder after pressing a kiss to it.

"We started going out in middle school. We were still together when we started going to college too. I'd always known he had a temper…I suppose with my sharp tongue and his short temper, I should've known we were fucked." Naomi shrugged, the small self-deprecating chuckle to fall from her lips sounding like the devil's music to Emily's ears. However, the redhead didn't interject. Knew that letting the woman next to her shed some of her wounds would be useful to her. "He started to behave really shiftily whenever his phone would go off, so of course I got suspicious – ended up devising a plan to make him think he'd lost it on our trip to Alton Towers, when really I'd taken it." The blonde heaved a large intake of breath and then slowly blew it out. "There were messages I found on it from and to another girl – I'd known her too – she was this gorgeous brunette, effortless-looking, blue eyes, tall. When I confronted him about it he got angry, started treating me like I was an idiot, so I began to belittle him just as I felt he was doing to me…He elbowed me in the face for it…"

At that a silence rang out in the room as though a parent had slammed a fist to the table. Neither uttered a word for a good ten seconds, Naomi silently grimacing in memory, Emily in acute horror, before the blonde reclaimed the floor. "I couldn't actually believe it when it happened. I was in shock for the first few days, and I kind of just talked myself out of the fact that he'd belted me, because…" She paused to deliberate with herself for a moment, because, well, she'd never really thought about why she'd spent those few days fiercely convincing herself that Rob hadn't hit her, but now, ten years later, at the age of 26, it dawned on her that she hadn't wanted other people to find out – to know that ice queen, Naomi Campbell – the girl who got straight A's and was _always_ in control – had…lost control. Naomi rolled her eyes, suddenly realizing that even so far back as then she'd been inadvertently living for the approval of others, or rather…dying inside for the approval of others. She repositioned her head on her pillow, somewhat relieved that she now had the wherewithal to look back and see where she'd gone wrong, before soldiering on: "I stupidly thought that if I believed it hadn't happened, then it wouldn't have happened, and if it hadn't happened, then there would be nothing for anyone to find out about. I wouldn't have been able to handle people knowing that my boyfriend had elbowed me and given my eye a twitch. It would've been embarrassing, and i just didn't want to deal with any of that at the time. Inevitably he ended up hitting me again, and again – apparently I'd changed as well. The few friends I had told me I lost my voice, became subservient...It was fucking awful." It was ever so abrupt, a creeper, but when the stream of sudden emotion filled Naomi's tear ducts to capacity, they burst with a vengeance. Emily squeezed the sobbing blonde even tighter, ran a soothing hand through blonde fields of hair.

"It's ok Naoms. You can let it out and let some of it go."

The tears had taken Naomi by surprise. She'd thought she'd been doing great up until now, but she wasn't foolish enough to fight the leak in her eyes, knew the tears had to pass. She sniffed, as though her nose needed to be clear for the next part. "I loved him too, like an idiot. The physical abuse was nothing compared to the pain of knowing that not only did he not love me back, but he hated me enough to do that to me."

Something shook Emily then. She couldn't do it, couldn't sit there silently whilst her understanding was that Naomi thought Robert hated her. "He didn't hate you!" She interrupted softly. "No body ever really hates anyone else Naoms. People hate themselves. Nothing's ever personal; people just do these things to get their power back. That's what anger is – getting your power back. Have you ever wondered why it feels so good to go into anger from being hopeless, or depressed? It's because there's a little more power in anger, and then there's a little more in frustration. Every single person out there is a powerful being at their core; we all inherently know it, so when we think the thoughts that don't allow our full genius to express, we lash out because we _know _that that's not our natural state." Her shoulders shifted somewhat noisily against her pillow as she repositioned her body slightly, so that she could lose her fingers in Naomi's scalp, massaging gently. "If you think about it, no one really actively seeks to make anyone else feel bad. People are just selfishly oriented, and not necessarily in a bad way. The primary reason for any one person doing any one thing is because they think that in doing it, they'll make themselves feel better. People who slash their wrist do it because they think they'll feel better for it. A stranger who drops 5 quid to a tramp, does it because it'll make them feel better to know that the tramp has that 5 quid. Everybody just wants to feel a little bit better. I'm not at all justifying what he did, because you don't trample on other people to get your self-worth back; you're supposed to find new patterns of thought to achieve that. But I just want you to understand that he didn't hate you, that you didn't do anything wrong to warrant his insecurity-induced abuse."

The following quiet in the room kept Emily in the dark as to whether she'd succeeded in shedding light on the true nature of the situation as she saw it – on whether she'd succeeded in making Naomi feel that little bit better – when in actual fact Naomi was laying in her arms wearing the most genuine smile she'd smiled in years, and how could she not? She had felt the rhythm of Emily's chest quickening throughout that rant, the redhead's passion and zest to support unparalleled. It washed Naomi with something warm and invincible to know that she had such a soul on her side, for once.

She disturbed the stillness of the mattress once more to roll and peer into adoring brunette orbs. "Thank you." The blonde whispered, unable to help her lips gradually drawing towards Emily's, their kiss devoid of tongue, and much more tender than the kisses they'd exchanged last night.

Their eventual growing apart was mutual, one of those unspokens where two people just know, and with the blissful silence, Naomi became aware that she still hadn't fully answered Emily's initial question. It was apparent to her that there was still quite a bit of the story to go, but then it quite suddenly occurred: why should she waste any more time on this story than she had to? Surely ten years had been enough right?

"I ended up getting rid of him in the end, with the help of police and such." The blonde re-lit the conversation, shrugging solemnly to herself. "I've had trouble trusting people ever since, not that I was ever Ms Sociable to begin with. But since then I…haven't let people in, and if my front door was closed then how was anyone ever going to get to my bedroom?"

Emily leaned in against Naomi's lips, and mumbled, "Well, I'm glad you're letting me in." Her fingers and their habit of tracing patterns travelled from the blonde's upper back to the sides of her arms, performing swirls and oblongs.

The sensation brought a finger to Naomi's eyelids and carefully closed them. _Yeah, me too_, she thought.


	14. Chapter 14

**Hello peeps :D Here I am with another update. Thanks to the endless encouragement that you guys show me and this story I find myself abandoning household chores to get the chapters written. The freezer in my kitchen which has yet to be defrosted is the fault of all of you! : )**

**Thank you!**

**Lenoschka, thank you for the love hun :D Don't give up on it. If you get it right, you'll come to know someone like the Emily in this fic. I know hundreds of them, so nothing's impossible : ) Also, when I was writing Bimbims in a few of the earlier chapters, my mind also likened him to Effy lol. But I have an entirely different purpose for Effy in this fic ; )**

**IAmAwsomeBecauseMyNameIsSam, I couldn't have put it better myself: '**_**Release**_** your spiritual side,' :D**

**CrashKill, awww thanks hun. I'm sometimes a little hard on my writing because I'm passionate about it, so to hear that is lovely.**

**Special thanks to lumagoo1015, who commented on a whole bunch of my chapters in one go. That was awfully nice of you.**

**Also a special thanks to Lovelessandless, who I just recently discovered gave me and this fic a shout-out! *hugs…for perhaps longer than is appropriate…then a little longer…nope, not ready to let go yet – oh you can't breathe. Ok.* Don't worry, I smell good : ) Thank you Lil 'ol me for bringing the shout-out to my attention, and thank you for the enthusiasm you have shown me.**

**And to everyone who wants Bimbims…*says quietly* He's a figment of my vivid imagination. :P lmao!**

* * *

Naomi felt no more familiar walking into the 'Inspiration' Retreat Centre, for the second time in her life, as she followed in through the building's glass doors close behind Emily.

"Morning Fitchy." Called the drawn-in-the-faced, middle-aged man from the wooden receptionist's booth.

Emily smiled, her arm and hand extending, flying from it: something scrunched at the tall man. From all those involved, the redhead's behavior had elicited an echoing out of laughter in the empty large hall. "That's for yesterday, Marky boy." She bobbed her tongue out at him, reaching behind for the blonde's hand. The blonde who was only smiling because no other role had been assigned.

It was strange, sort of like actually walking into Emily's place of work, Emily's zone, _with_ Emily somehow alienated her, because, well, this was kind of Emily's world…one which Naomi was quickly beginning to realize she knew very little about, as the redhead playfully pulled her into a room.

Little did Naomi know that by the end of the hour, she'd have learnt a whole lot more about Emily's work life…at least, it'd be a whole lot more to her.

This room was bigger than the one she'd been in last time, Naomi noticed, though the numerous candles meticulously adorning the room were still flickering an intense warmth, the floors still boasting the same large cushions, but now there was a beautiful scent floating light on her nose. It was nice…peaceful. Her eyes left the décor with the uprising of a sudden clicking noise, which was responsible for taking her blue's to the only other person in the room.

"What are you doing?" She asked, the serenity of the atmosphere causing her the need to lower her voice to a murmur.

"Just lighting a few more of these." Emily held up a candle, the clicky candle lighter then coming into view as well. "If you just hold on Naoms," She grew a smirk, "I'll be over there in a sec to light you up."

With hearing that, with hearing the velvet husk tangled up in it, frustration pushed a long sigh from the blonde's nose. Sex…again. She was thinking about sex…again. It wasn't helping that Emily's full body frame was stood just inches in front, albeit facing away from her, but there nevertheless. Another non-helpful was the baggy shirt hanging around Emily's petite torso in all the right places. Naomi had never noticed it before, but since sex had begun chasing her everywhere she went, she'd come to learn that she liked baggy…a lot. Emily in that baggy red polo shirt, Emily in those baggy boxers, Emily surrounded in the duvet. There was something, perhaps oddly, beautiful about a body as beautiful as Emily's being hidden beneath all that material. The illusion of it all.

These numerous trains of thought delivered Naomi to a place where there was no water left in her mouth. "I can't believe _I _had sex with another woman." She suddenly blurted, eyebrows raised, as if it was the first time she was noticing.

The blonde's sudden _epiphany _caused Emily to put down the candle lighter and spin around, laughter's strings heaving her shoulders turbulently. "Well how many other women have you had sex with, Naomi?" Quipped Emily, far too pleased with her lame wit. "I can't believe how hard you made me come; my legs still aren't quite as sturdy as they used to be." She casually added, returning to fiddle with these candles, completely unaware as to the steamy, whimpering, memories that her few words had seared into the forefront of Naomi's minds eye.

"You've broken me Naoms." Giggled Emily, tapping her legs to get them '_working'_ again. "Didn't your mother ever teach you that if you can't go easy on your toys, put them down?"

The sound of the redhead's laughter muted to something vague below just how warm the air seemed to be getting when it brushed the blonde's skin. But then again, it was bound to have warmed with the sweaty, moany, porcelain skin-filled thoughts that she kept choosing to think.

They hadn't slept together since their first time. Of course there had been late-night kisses on the sofa, and snuggling, but…no sex, though that hadn't been a deliberate fact on either of their parts. Nevertheless, Naomi was surprised at how much tension was beginning to make itself apparent within the lower parts of her body. It was sort of funny in a way because she'd not had sex in ten years, and now it seemed to be in everything – even the shape of that plant basket hanging over the door of the house was starting to look like a nipple.

She felt a deep heat shuffle in to settle in her cheeks, for they were aware of what Naomi had planned. Her legs had her standing behind Emily in a matter of seconds. She gently reached down to rid the knowing redhead's hands of a few matches; apparently the candle lighter had started to malfunction. Naomi's slender fingers fell upon Emily's waist as she slowly spun her around, and without needing to be told, the redhead's fingers found Naomi's hips, which were blissfully pressing her into the shelf of the window ledge behind. Hazel eyes hooded there and then. "I love it when you take control, when you get that hungry look in your eye. It's probably the sexiest thing since your stomach." Emily whispered in half a growl, slowly leaning up into Naomi's lips to indulge in what was a wonderfully lazy kiss.

The blonde was just on the verge of travelling her hands around to Emily's back, her fingers just on the cusp of being enveloped by the warmth residing underneath Emily's shirt, when the door flew open, colliding thunderously with the wall. Naomi hastened her lips away from Emily's, feeling the eyes of whoever had intruded pierce into her back, but she instructed her body to remain stiff, as though to move would somehow accentuate their compromising position. Her face then warmed with Emily's exasperated sigh, porcelain hands never quite leaving her hips, only loosening slightly around them.

"Eff, mind knocking next time? I was trying to have some downtime with my girl."

Naomi had no time to decide how she felt about the fact that Emily had just referred to her as her girl, for the familiar name that she'd just heard. Blonde strands whipped Emily cheeks with the velocity with which Naomi turned to face this intruder, and when icy blue eyes met steel blue eyes, everything got…denser.

…

Those blue steels would soon soften though, even if it was in an artificial manner.

"Naomi," Smirked the effortless-looking brunette. "After all these years you haven't changed a bit, well apart from your choice of…" Her hauntingly long fingers frolicked between Naomi and the scarlet haired woman, almost spitefully as far as icy blue's were concerned. But then again, the blonde could never really tell how the brunette intended the things that she said to be taken.

"Anyway Em," Said Effy, refraining from punishing Naomi with her knife-like smirk to drag her vision over to the redhead. "I'll come back when you've finished having – what did you call it again?" She feigned wonder for a second, before concluding, "'down time' with your girl."

Emily's eyes tennis-balled back and forth between her smirking co-worker and a frozen Naomi, like if she stared at both of them enough times their past would unfold and play like a movie. It didn't, and things only got hazier when Effy withdrew from the room and gently shut the door.

Emily peered at the clearly freaking out blonde in front of her with concern. "What's going on? How do you know Eff?"

She hated it, Naomi did; the fact that after all these years the sight of Elizabeth Stonem could so effortlessly take her back to those days of college, to days of relationship insecurities. And she hated that Emily kept shortening her name like that, like they were tight enough to shorten one another's names. Her trance soon after fell from her face as she peered back at soft but enquiring hazel eyes. She clicked her tongue against the roof of her mouth with a loudness which would rival the click on that candle lighter, and then rolled her azure's. "Effy's the girl I caught Robert texting back in college. We've _never _gotten along."

The frown about Emily's expression fast cleared up, but it sunk in deeper seconds later when a few facts in her mind didn't quite tally. "Wait, Effy likes men?"

"Well, _yeah_!" Snapped Naomi, as if Effy's days of being a certifiable dick-hopper in college should be obvious to everyone. It was obvious to her. Excruciatingly obvious. "Of course she likes men Emily." The blonde further admonished, hands flying like fireworks thanks to her growing irritation, because the only image of Effy that her mind could conjure was a straight one. A gorgeous, tall, spiteful, boyfriend-stealing, straight one.

Emily's hands lifted from Naomi's hips, keen to fill their new vocation massaging at the few unruly strands of white hair living at the nape of Naomi's neck, massaging at the stress-relieving pressure points there. "Can you calm down for me please?"

Naomi looked to the floor and nodded somewhat guiltily, sighing slow and drawn out.

"I asked you because Effy's taken home girls from here before. I just assumed. Plus she's always flirting with the female workers."

Naomi looked up in a snap. "Including you?"

…

The redhead had felt the muscles in Naomi's neck and shoulders gradually relaxing, but when she honestly replied: "She has in the past, yeah" everything beneath her fingertips suddenly turned to stone. "Naoms, she's harmless. It's kind of just who she is." Emily tried to placate, but to no avail.

"I think I'm gonna go home, maybe surf the net for jobs or something." Naomi suddenly announced, backing away from Emily as she raked her nails through her own fair-haired scalp. Well what was the alternative, to just explode like her emotions were telling her to, and let Emily witness her jealousy and possibly unfounded paranoia? No. They'd only just gotten together. They were still living blissful in that honeymoon period, taking it in turns to make one another breakfast in bed each morning, meditating together – even going to Asda together, where they'd before shopped separately. No. Naomi knew she had to get out of there.

"Naoms…" Emily opened her mouth to convince the blonde to stay, but it was clear to see that Naomi's mind was set in stone, and before she could request a kiss goodbye, Naomi was gone.

**Hopefully more on Emily in the next chapter. Or maybe the chapter after that.**


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